A Seahorse in the Thames (21 page)

N
aples, Italy

August 8

D
ear Lexie:

W
e are finally here! It took such a long time and I was getting so tired of waiting, but no more waiting! We are staying with Cosmo’s brother, Gianni, in Naples. Cosmo is going to write down the address on the envelope so I get it right. Then you can write to me. Gianni is very nice. He knows a lot of English. His wife’s name is Marcella and she knows a little bit of English. Cosmo’s grandmother lives here too. And she speaks no English at all! She is very nice, though, and always says stuff to me in Italian. I have no idea what she is saying. Cosmo says that’s okay ’cause sometimes she doesn’t know what she is saying either.

When the whole family comes over there are like thirty people in the house! Everyone talks very fast and they all hug Cosmo like he’s been gone a million years. Marcella says everyone loves Cosmo and I said of course they do!

Gianni has a restaurant and he wants Cosmo to come work for him. Cosmo said he will but he will miss being outside all day long. He told me soon we could get our own place and I will have a garden and he will help me take care of it. I hope you can come visit me soon. Cosmo says family is very important and he wants you to come. Maybe you can come next summer when we have our little house. And I will show you my garden. Cosmo says it won’t matter that we will be in the heart of the city. He will make a little garden for me in the back that will make you think you have come to the Garden of Eden. He says it will be like a little spot of beauty in a place where no one thought beauty would be. I believe him. Cosmo is a good gardener.

I love you and miss you.

Love,

Rebecca DiMarco

p.s. I got a new headband. It’s pink!

1. A Seahorse in the Thames opens with Alexa realizing she is falling in love with Stephen after knowing him less than a week. Why do you think that has happened? Why does it surprise her? Would it surprise you if you were Alexa?

2. Alexa thinks of Priscilla as her smarter half; her mirror image—only wiser, more intuitive. Is Priscilla really more intelligent than Alexa? Why does Alexa have this view of Priscilla?

3. Clement the seahorse serves as a metaphor in the story for finding beauty in unexpected places. Has this ever happened to you? Describe a time in your life when you knelt down to hunt for something lovely in a place where it didn’t seem like it could exist.

4. Discuss the twins’ mother, Eileen Poole. What are her flaws? What are her strengths? How does she deal with tragedy? Can you identify with her?

5. What do you think of Priscilla’s decision to cut off communication with her father, escape to Europe and maintain minimal contact with Alexa and her mother? What about her decision to keep Isabel a secret? Do you empathize? Why or why not?

6. How do you think Alexa and Rebecca’s relationship changed after Rebecca’s accident? Why do you suppose it affected Alexa differently than everyone else?

7. Discuss why Alexa likes living near the ocean. What does her view of the ocean say about her character?

8. Alexa’s motivation to find Rebecca after she has disappeared eclipses everyone else’s. Why do you suppose that is true? How would you have reacted?

9. Does Alexa’s infant brother Julian play a role in the story? Describe what that might be.

10. When Alexa found the check from Gavin McNeil in Rebecca’s shoebox, what went through your mind? Did your opinion of Rebecca change? Did it change when it was revealed why she had the check?

11. What do you think happened the night Rebecca and Leanne were in the car accident? Start with what you think Rebecca told Leanne before she came to pick her up. What happened next?

12. Priscilla comes back to the United States not so much to help find Rebecca but for another reason entirely. What is that reason? How does she accomplish it? What do you think of how she confronted her father?

13. Alexa describes the ache of loving people as the “most wonderful pain in the world.” What does she mean by this? Do you agree? Why or why not?

14. What was your reaction to Rebecca’s reason for disappearing? Joy for her? Fear?

15. Alexa ends her narrative with a firm hand on that lovely thing called hope. Where do you see Alexa in a year’s time?

16. What does Rebecca’s letter, which is the epilogue, communicate to you? What is its purpose for the story itself? Read it aloud and discuss

Susan Meissner
is the multi-published author of
The Shape of Mercy,
named one of the 100 Best Books in 2008 by Publishers Weekly and the ECPA’s Fiction Book of the Year. She is also a speaker and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism, and is the leader/moderator of a local writer’s group, a pastor’s wife and the mother of four young adults.

When she’s not writing, Susan directs the Small Groups and Connection Ministries program at The Church at Rancho Bernardo in San Diego. She also enjoys teaching workshops on writing and dream-following, as well as spending time with her family, listening to or making music, reading great books, and traveling.

Susan says, “I write fiction for the restless reader. I love the power of story to plumb the depths of who we are and Whose we are.”

Visit Susan’s webpage at:
www.susanmeissner.com

Blue Heart Blessed

In All Deep Places

The Remedy for Regret

The Shape of Mercy

Lady in Waiting

White Picket Fences

A Seahorse in the Thames

Copyright © 2006, 2012 by Susan Meissner. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Greenbrier Book Company

P.O. Box 12721

New Bern, NC 28561

Visit our Web site at
www.greenbrierbooks.com

First eBook Edition: February 2012

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Kindle eBook eISBN: 978-1-937573-44-7

ePub eBook eISBN:
978-1-937573-45-4

Apple iBook eISBN:
978-1-937573-46-1

Cover design by Anton Khodakovsky

Photographs by Kelly McCarthy (seahorse) and Simon Sun (grass)