Topic 1

How does the plot of The Girl in Hyacinth Blue develop? How is The Girl in Hyacinth Blue’s plot different from a typical novel, with rising action, a climax, and falling action and a denouement?

Topic 2

Many of the characters in The Girl in Hyacinth Blue lived in one place before leaving to make a new life that is full of nostalgia for the old life they left behind. Discuss the theme of origins and displacement in The Girl in Hyacinth Blue. What does the novel say about the process of being at home, or being an outsider?

Topic 3

Many characters worry over the question of whether the Vermeer painting is authentic. What is at issue when characters ask this question, and what is settled when it is answered? What does this tell us about the value of art?

Topic 4

One of the things many...