COLD LIGHT by Frank Moorhouse Format: Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781741661262 Imprint: Vintage Australia Released in November, 2011

Reading Group Questions

1. In Cold Light Edith Campbell Berry states: I believe we change the world meeting by meeting . . . conversation by conversation. Every argument in the workplace or around the kitchen table about the fair way to do something these are fights for a civilised world. What would be your response to this statement? 2. Post-war, pre-feminist Canberra is perhaps a shock to many readers who have never been affected by the old assumptions including as a woman you will not work after marriage or children. Was this a tragic period for women in Australia when they knew of their talents but saw them being wasted and neglected? Do you think Edith would describe herself as a feminist if she was alive today? 3. Should Edith have married Ambrose? Should she have married Richard? 4. Edith and Ambrose, and perhaps all living in the small community of Canberra at the time, experience a friction between their private and public lives. Many people today appear to want to live their lives on the public stage, yet issues of privacy and discussion of privacy laws are common. What has changed? 5. Would you describe Cold Light as a novel of ideas? Historical fiction? How do you feel about Cold Light being told through a fictional historical narrative? 6. How different would your life be if when reaching a decision point in life you consulted The Book of Crossroads or asked what would Edith do?

Reading Group Questions from Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse Available in bookshops November, 2011 | ISBN: 9781741661262 Imprint: Vintage Australia | Publisher: Random House Australia
Copyright Frank Moorhouse 2011. 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.