Touchstone
Reading Group Guide
The Queen''s Fool
1. What kind of tone does the novel''s opening scene instantly
set, and what does it tell us up front about Hannah''s and
Elizabeth''s characters? If you''ve read other fictional accounts
of Elizabeth''s life, how does this portrayal of her compare?
2. In public, Hannah plays the fool to Mary''s queen, but in
private their bond is more intimate. Why is the relationship
valuable to each of them, both personally and politically? How is
Hannah''s connection to Elizabeth different?
3. Hannah is smitten with Robert Dudley from the moment she
spots him in her doorway, an angel at his shoulder. How would you
describe the bond that develops between them -- and how does it
change over time?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being the
queen''s fool instead of a normal courtier?
5. Haunted by the Spanish Inquisition, Hannah describes her
Judaism as "some sickness that we pass on," claiming that Jews are
condemned to "a lifetime of fear, not Chosen so much as cursed."
How do her feelings toward her faith change over the course of the
story and why?
6. In the grip of her Sight, Hannah delivers this prophecy:
"There will be a child, but no child. There will be a king but no
king. There will be a virgin queen all-forgotten. There will be a
queen but no virgin....[Dudley] will die, beloved by a queen, safe
in his bed." Ultimately, how does history unravel her cryptic
prediction?
7. As Mary''s marriage falters and her unhappiness grows, she
becomes increasingly obsessed with restoring the glory of the
Catholic Church through the fires of an English inquisition. Given
that Hannah''s own mother was killed in just such a fire, how is
she able to justify Mary''s bloody reign? Did you sympathize with
her unswerving loyalty?
8. What changes in both Hannah and Daniel allow their initially
contentious relationship to blossom into love? Did you agree with
Hannah''s decision to leave him when she discovers another woman
has borne his child?
9. How does King Henry VIII''s dishonorable treatment of
Catherine of Aragon continue to affect England even years after
their deaths? Why is Mary driven to convert all of England back to
Catholicism?
10. Poised to burn books that could condemn her and her father
as heretics, Hannah stays her hand, explaining, "If I burned them I
was no better than the Inquisition which had killed my mother. If I
burned them, I became as one of those who think that ideas are
dangerous and should be destroyed." What would you have done in her
place? In a world where knowledge was very dangerous, how does
Hannah''s Sight make her both powerful and vulnerable?
11. What is your estimation of Dudley''s character? Do you think
he is a true friend to Hannah?
12. Why does Hannah cling to the boyish dress of the fool for so
long? Why is she so afraid to become a woman, and what finally
inspires her transformation?
13. At the end of her life, Mary finds herself in the place she
has most feared: She is a forgotten queen, cast aside by her
husband and her people, overthrown in their hearts by a Boleyn
girl, just as her mother was. Do you think that this end was her
destiny? Are there other paths she might have chosen that would
have led her to a long and happy reign?
14. If you''re familiar with Elizabeth''s history, discuss how
the events in this novel foreshadow both what is to come in her
reign as queen and in her relationship with Robert Dudley.