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Authors: Benedict Hall

BOOK: Cate Campbell
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The year 1920 seems in many ways a very long time ago, while in others it feels like yesterday. Medicine and fashion and technology were on the brink of great change, but had not yet stepped over that threshold. I’m deeply indebted to the following for helping me find what I needed to understand my characters and their period: Dean Crosgrove, P.A.C.; Nancy Crosgrove, R.N.; Phyllis Hollenbeck, M.D., author of
Sacred Trust;
Becky Kyle, medical librarian; John Little, Assistant Curator of the Museum of Flight, Seattle; the librarians of the King County Library System, who so tirelessly search for answers to even the most arcane questions; Hepzibah, a reference specialist in the Special Collections Division at the University of Washington Libraries; and Donald J. Ostrand of the Vintage Telephone Equipment Museum of Seattle.
Heartfelt thanks go to my first reader, Zack Marley. The fine writers Brenda Cooper and Cat Rambo provided discerning and incisive critiques. The Tahuya Writers group—Brian Bek, Jeralee Chapman, Niven Marquis, Dave Newton, and Catherine Whitehead—provided critical ears and emotional support.
A special note of thanks is due to my agent, Peter Rubie, and my editor, Audrey LaFehr: Thank you both for your encouragement and advice. This project wouldn’t exist without your help.
Readers are invited to visit
www.catecampbell.net
to read more about
Benedict Hall
and the 1920s
.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
BENEDICT HALL
 
 
 
Cate Campbell
 
 
About This Guide
 
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading of
Cate Campbell’s
Benedict Hall.
Discussion Questions
1.
The period following World War I, which ended in 1918, was one of social upheaval. In what ways do the different members of the Benedict family model the changes in society?
2.
Margot Benedict faces strong opposition to her struggle for equal opportunities in a male-dominated field, and is working in a time of diminishing numbers of women physicians. Why do you think there is so much resistance to her efforts and those of other women of the day?
3.
Do you think professional women face similar obstacles in the present day? What choices do women have now that they lacked in the 1920s?
4.
Dickson Benedict and his daughter have spirited arguments over social issues. Do you think Dickson takes opposing views from Margot because he believes them, or purely for the sake of the debate?
5.
Fashions for women changed much more swiftly in the 1920s than ever before in western history. Why do you think that was the case? What do shorter hemlines, bobbed hair, discarded corsets, and even the use of cosmetics tell us about how the role of women in society was changing?
6.
Preston Benedict is convinced that the sapphire he stole in Jerusalem imbues him with special powers. Do you think his conviction is what creates that power? Do you think his belief speaks to the state of his sanity?
7.
Abraham Blake was born free, although his parents were slaves, set free only by the Emancipation Proclamation. He is grateful to Dickson Benedict for his place in Benedict Hall, but do you think he is still, in essence, an indentured servant? Was there any other choice for him?
8.
Edith Benedict is a product of her time, a woman accustomed to comfort and wealth and assured of her social role. Her daughter, Margot, grew up with the same advantages. In what ways are these two women different? Are there any similarities between them?
9.
Margot Benedict is practicing medicine nearly a decade before the advent of antibiotics. Are you surprised, reading the novel, at the level of medical sophistication being practiced in her day? Are there elements of Margot’s medical practice that remain unchanged almost a century later?
10.
Toward the end of the novel, Ramona Benedict reveals her own special talent for fashion, and helps her sister-in-law to choose clothes that flatter her instead of making her look like the dowdy lady doctor, as she did in the
Times
photograph. Do you think that Ramona and Margot, two such different women, have discovered a basis for friendship?
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
 
Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2013 by Louise Marley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
 
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-8759-5
 
eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-8760-1
eISBN-10: 0-7582-8760-7
First Kensington Electronic Edition: June 2013
 

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