Questions For Your Book Club to Discuss Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel

There's a lot of themes and topics to explore in Sophie Green's new book! We hope these questions jump start your reading group's discussion.

Have you read any other books by Sophie Green? How is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel similar or different?

'This house is lovely, and it is a trap.' (Chapter One)
In the first chapter, the beauty and wealth of the northern suburbs of Sydney is juxtaposed with a feeling of falseness and constraint. What are some other examples in this book of appearance being different to reality?

Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel is primarily set on the Mornington Peninsula in the late 1990s. Imagine that this novel is taking place in 2024 - how might the story be different? What about if it had been set outside Australia?

Did you find yourself connecting with any one character more than the others? If so, who and why?

'They love each other and each doesn’t want to upset the other yet they are convinced of the rightness of their position.' (Chapter Six)
At the start of the novel, Frances and Alison's mother-daughter relationship is quite strained. Why do you think this is the case? How does their relationship change as the book progresses?

The way the characters get together to paint is similar to a book club meeting to talk about a novel. What do you think it is about creativity and the arts that inspires people to come together?

The Duchess Hotel seems to be a place that brings out our main characters' true selves. Has there ever been a place like that for you?

'You enjoy it, and that makes it good.' (Chapter Sixty-Seven)
Art, and what makes 'good' art, is very subjective. What are some of your favourite works of art? Has this book made you consider art differently?