About the Author
Sebastian Faulks is best known for his French trilogy,
The Girl at the Lion dOr,
Birdsong and
Charlotte Gray. He has also worked extensively as a journalist.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
1. Consider the form of the novel. What different types of writing are involved in the book -- think about Jacques' case notes, Charcot's lectures, Olivier's interior monologues and the description of Daniel's experiences in the war. What do you think this variety in the texture of the writing adds to the book? What books does
Human Traces remind you of?
2. What is the significance of Jacques mistaken diagnosis of Kitty? In what ways are Thomas and Jacques opposites? Discuss their differing theories on the human mind. What other oppositions are set up in the novel?
3. 'She remembered how restored he had been in the days that followed the arrival of the telegram…Her subterfuge had worked as well as she could have hoped, and if she had desisted at the time from telling him, there seemed no reason to break her silence now.'
How does Faulks uses the different characters' (and the reader's) understandings of certain situations, such as Roya's affair with Jacques and Olivier's inner world, to dramatic effect? Does Faulks use our awareness of how research into mental illness has developed in this way to add another dimension to the book?
4. What would you say the message of Human Traces is?
5. '"So far as I know, that is what it means to love someone. To bend all your powers to their happiness. All of them. To be everything."'
Discuss the character of Sonia. What roles does she play in the novel?