Questions For Your Reading Group to Discuss The Midnight News

There's so many themes and topics to explore in Jo Baker's page-turning book - we hope these questions jump-start your group's discussion! 

Questions for Discussion:

Was The Midnight News what you were expecting from the cover or blurb? Did you find the mystery, love story or historical elements more interesting? Which genre would you describe it as?

Did you find Charlotte a likeable protagonist? How do you think she changes as a character due to the events of the novel? How might your opinion of Charlotte have been different if Jo Baker had used first person narration?

Reread the book’s epigraph: ‘…the wicked had stayed, and the good had gone…” (Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day). How does it relate to the themes and events of the novel?

Charlotte experiences all kinds of loss, grieving not only for her friends but for the life she knew before the war. How does the novel explore these themes? Do you agree with how Charlotte tries to process her grief, even with her unusual circumstances?

"‘These remembrances,’ Janet says. ‘They do matter. They come to mean so much to those of us who are left behind.’ ‘They do,’ Charlotte says. That’s about as much as she’s prepared to admit,” (page 65*). What role does memory play in the novel, and how does it help Charlotte stay connected to everything and everyone she’s lost?

“A family will clamp shut like a cockle when it’s hurt,” (page 97). Do you agree with this quote? What does ‘family’ look like and mean to Charlotte, and how has her relationship with her family shaped who she’s become?

In what ways have societal attitudes to women’s physical and mental health changed since 1940? How might they have stayed the same?

The Blitz was a very particular period of the war for the United Kingdom where citizens were living through a time of incredible fear and uncertainty. How is this affecting Charlotte? What significance does this time period have on how we live today?

Have you read many other books set during the Second World War? If so, what draws you to reading about it, and what are some of your favourites?

Consider the chapter titles. Did you notice them while reading? If so, how did they affect your reading experience?

‘More like sisters than just friends, how easily you rubbed along together.’ ‘That’s not,’ she says, with a sore smile, ‘my experience of sisters,’ (page 89). How does this quote relate to the novel’s exploration of female friendship? How and why is Charlotte’s friendship with El similar or different to her connections with Janet, Saskia or Francesca?

What did you think of the ending? Did you feel everything was resolved? What might the future look like for Charlotte?

*Please check page references against a final copy of the text