SISTERS OF MERCY by Caroline Overington Format: Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781742750422 Imprint: Bantam Australia Released in November, 2012

Reading Group Questions 1. Sisters of Mercy starts with Jack saying he was surprised to get a letter from Snow
Delaney in Silverwater Prison. What does she hope to achieve in writing to a journalist?

2. What was Jack trying to achieve in writing back to Snow? 3. Would you, as a reader, like to have seen more of Jacks letters to Snow? Why do you
think the author who is herself a journalist chose to leave them out?

4. Jack kept all of Snows letters and published them in a book without her consent. Is that a
fair thing for him to have done? Should he have sought Snows permission to publish the letters or is she fair game?

5. Jack seems to be of the view that the police investigation into Agnes Moores
disappearance was slow and perhaps even flawed from the start. Do you agree?

6. Agnes was left in an orphanage during the war. Do you think her mother thought she
would be safer there or is Snow right when she says that her mother never wanted any children?

7. Snow goes into her first real job at Caloola full of hope as to what she might be able to
achieve. As a reader do you have any experience of social programs like normalisation? What do you think of the decision to close all the old institutions? Is there enough support for parents of disabled children today?

8. In Sisters of Mercy no checks were done on Delaney House for many years, and Snow
was able to do what she wanted to the children in her care essentially. Can you easily believe that such a thing is possible?

9. Jack seems to think there is enough evidence to charge Snow in relation to the
disappearance of her sister. Do you agree? What would the charge be? How well does the evidence against her stack up?

10. Imagine that you were a juror at Snows trial. Would you be satisfied beyond reasonable
doubt that Snow is guilty of murder?
Reading Group Questions from Sisters of Mercy by Caroline Overington Available in bookshops and ebook retailers November 2012 Sisters of Mercy: Print ISBN: 9781742750422 | ebook ISBN: 9781742750446 Imprint: Bantam Australia | Publisher: Random House Australia
Copyright Caroline Overington 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.