Eye of the Needle

Why does Terry approach Percy to join MI5? What skills does Percy bring to a spy hunting mission?

Bloggs talks often about his wife Christine’s role as an ambulance driver. How does Christine’s death motivate Bloggs? How does Christine’s heroism foreshadow Lucy’s actions on Storm Island?

How does Follett weave together fictional events with historical ones? How does the novel maintain suspense even though the outcome of the D-Day invasion is widely known?

Percy and Bloggs discuss the possibility of remarriage after the loss of a spouse. How does this discussion foreshadow the Epilogue? How does it provide motivation for Percy and Bloggs to continue their hunt for Faber?

How do the emotional consequences of David’s accident impact his behavior and his relationship with Lucy? How does David’s behavior bring out Lucy’s best and worst characteristics?

Discuss Lucy’s character. What does her choice to stay in an unhappy marriage reveal about her values and her sense of identity? What motivations give her the courage and determination to defeat Faber in the end?

How does Faber’s isolation due to his work as a spy compare to Lucy and David’s isolation on Storm Island? What role does this isolation play in Lucy and Faber’s relationship? In Lucy and David’s relationship?

Follet uses nature in the form of a storm to further isolate Lucy on Storm Island in the final part of the book. This echoes the real-life invasion of Normandy, which was similarly delayed by bad weather and might not have happened at all if the storm hadn’t broken. How does Follett use weather and other factors to illustrate the role of chance in history?