Amish-Country Journal, by Author Paul Gaus: A Reading Group Guide for My Eighth Amish-Country Mystery

My Publisher Plume (A Division of Penguin Group USA) has prepared a Reading Group Guide for my new novel The Names of Our Tears. I thought readers would like to see it, so I have posted it below.

The Names of Our Tears

Reading Group Guide

1. How does the epigraph set the tone of the novel? How does it apply to the work as a whole?

2. Why is Cal Troyer so adamant that Ruth Zook couldn’t possibly have been trafficking cocaine? Can you understand why he feels this way?

3. How are the Amish portrayed in this novel? How would you characterize their dealings with outsiders? How do the members of the police department treat the Amish community? Do you think they made any missteps?

4. Why does Emma insist that she won’t cry anymore? What did her relationship with Ruth mean to her? Why is she reluctant to speak with the police?

5. Cal tells Emma that “God tells us the names of our tears.” What does he mean by this? What comfort is he trying to offer her?

6. How does Cal act as a link between the Amish and the “English?” What enables him to do this? Do the Amish trust Cal more than they trust the police? Why do you think that might be?

7. What was your initial impression of Jodie Tapp? How does she manage to fool those around her? Can you imagine why she might have done what she did?

8. Why do you think Fannie Helmuth’s family chose to abandon their farm? Why did they resist help from the police? Was it because they simply didn’t trust the police, or do you think they believed it would be impossible for the police to help them?

9. A chapter following Mervin Byler starts and finishes the novel. Why do you think the author chose to frame the story this way? What are some of the ways in which the author lightens the tone of the book throughout?

10. How do the members of the Holmes county police department - Robertson, Niell, Lance, and Armbruster, particularly - work together to solve the crime? How do you think it affects them when they realize that they may never fully understand what happened?

11. Shortly after Ruth’s murder, the Amish community forgives the killer, as is their practice. What do you make of this tradition? Does it offer them closure in some way? Would you be able to do the same?

12. Cal Troyer’s assistance in helping the English police officers to work with the Amish as best they can is necessary to the department’s investigation. How much is lost in translation between these two groups of people? What do you think this book has to say about the relationships between various cultures on a whole? How necessary is it for the two groups to accept and adapt to each other?