Fellowship Point

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. How did you respond to Agnes’s, Polly’s, and Maud’s contrasting versions of womanhood? Discuss how Dark uses each of their experiences to create a feminist commentary; how does Dark’s commentary compare to your own views?

2. Agnes and Polly have a strong friendship. How does their connection compare to your own friendships? Which aspects of their dynamic were most resonant?

3. Agnes and Polly live in Fellowship Point. What kind of society does this Maine town offer the characters? How does their community compare with your own?

4. Consider the novel’s depiction of aging. How much do you personally think about growing older, and has this changed over the course of your life? Did Agnes’s and Polly’s attitudes toward aging resonate with you?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Agnes and Polly work together to protect Fellowship Point. How do their efforts relate to the environmental crisis and reparations for Indigenous peoples?

2. The novel is set in the pre- and post-9/11 era. How does this historical event relate to Agnes’s and Polly’s journeys throughout the novel? How might 9/11 relate to the characters’ relationships with each other and their homes?

3. Agnes, Polly, and Maud all have different domestic, vocational, and familial backgrounds. Discuss how each of their lives is an expression of femininity, personal freedom, or societal expectations. How do their respective lifestyles create a wider commentary on gender politics?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Discuss the significance of the novel’s point of view and structure. How do the dual perspectives and temporal shifts relate to the novel’s explorations of aging and death?

2. Compare and contrast Agnes’s and Polly’s characters. How does Dark add dimension to each of them, and how do their differences and similarities create a backdrop for their friendship? Is one woman more or less believable?

3. Explore the significance of the Fellowship Point setting to the novel’s mood. How does this environment shape the narrative’s descriptions and the characters’ behaviors?

4. Discuss the symbolic significance of the cemetery. Consider why the characters spend time here and how they relate to the place. Consider how the setting relates to the novel’s explorations of aging, mortality, and time.

5. Explore the significance of Agnes’s books to her sense of self. What role does writing play in her personal journey, and why?

6. Discuss your response to the revelation that Maud Silver’s mother, Heidi Silver, is in fact Nan Reed. How did this plot twist alter your impressions of the characters and their relationships? What other functions does the plot twist serve?