The Heiress

Ruby and Jules both refer to fate as a driving force in their lives. How does fate play a role in both women’s lives, and how do they use the concept to their own advantage?

Choose either Jules or Cam and argue whether they are a “good person,” and why. According to the novel, what makes a good person?

Trace the changing nature of Ruby’s murders. How do her reasons, her methods, and her motivations shift over the course of the novel?

Explore Rachel Hawkins’s use of Gothic story conventions throughout The Heiress. How does she utilize Gothic convention, and how does she subvert it?

Jules and Cam are keeping secrets from each other. How do they justify this, and how do their secrets affect their relationship?

Hawkins structured this novel in a very particular way, giving both Cam and Jules first-person chapters and including Ruby’s first-person letters. How does this structure amplify the meaning of the novel?

How does Hawkins explore the nature of family through Ruby’s, Cam’s, and Jules’s experiences? What conclusions does Hawkins draw? Support your assertion with textual evidence.

Throughout the novel, past and present interweave in both the narrative structure and the characters’ experiences. How does Hawkins use this blending of past and present to support the themes of the novel?