1. The author hails from New Zealand, but she has spent time in Ireland, and she has made that land the location of her fiction. What does the Irish setting contribute to this novel? In other words, are there events or people that are unlikely to have occurred somewhere else?
2. Before the female protagonist, Abbey, leaves her marriage, the author says: "It wasn't a bad life, but she wasn't entirely sure it was her life. She clung to her love of Martin like a drowning man to an inflatable life raft....She wasn't herself, Martin was right about that. But then who the hell was she? She didn't belong in this paradise, but she didn't belong anywhere else, either. She was nobody. Nowhere." (p. 42) It seems that Abbey feels lost. What has she done to lose herself? How can she find herself? How typical do you feel this situation is for married women?
3. Both main characters Abbey and Kit have had failed marriages. What was wrong with their relationships? In your opinion, when should you fight to save a marriage or when should you walk away from it? Will Abbey and Kit's marriage to each other endure, do you think? Why or why not?
4. One of the oldest themes in fiction is to have someone who is dead or thought to be dead return. Why do you suppose that idea is so appealing? Who returns in this book? What are the consequences of those returns?
5. A related theme in this book is that of change or transformation. Who or what changes? Does change always involve loss?
6. The book has been compared to Joanne Harris' Chocolat. Besides the focus on a food, both novels have a "whiff" of magic. In fact, magic abounds in this book, from "the magic of coincidence" (185) to the magic of cheese-induced attraction. What does magic, by its very nature, do? Is magic real or just fiction?
7. One reviewer of this novel compared it to the old TV show Green Acres. The author says one of her first books, written as a child, was based on Anne of Green Gables. Does this book have anything in common with either of those "green" works?
8. The book begins "You can't hurry cheese. It happens in its own time and if that bothers you, you can just feck off." (1). What else in life can't you hurry? What is the purpose of the opening quotations for each chapter?
9. Much of this book has to do with finding a place to belong. What is the secret of belonging? Is family or heritage part of belonging? Can you create your own family or are you stuck with the one you were given at birth?
10. Although often disguised by humor, symbolism looms large in this story. In other words, what does the cheese represent? What is the connection between the setting and Pregnasaurs? What are some other symbols?
11. What do you make of the Pregnasaurs? Why are they in the story at all?
12. Corrie and Fee are aging. What "issues" has facing death brought up for them? Do you believe these are universal concerns?
13. The book has a happy ending. Is that only possible in fiction? Can real life have happy endings or are there only happy beginnings?
14. Do you think this book, underneath the humor, is saying today's mass culture is not a fulfilling way to live? What is the author critical about, in particular, and what does she suggest might be a better alternative for the direction of today's world?
