Kathryn Cope > Quotes

“Harrison Salisbury When Amor Towles was ten years old, he threw a bottle containing a short note he had written into the Atlantic Ocean. A few weeks later he received a letter from the man who found it: Harrison Salisbury, the managing editor of The New York Times. From this childhood incident, a correspondence developed between Salisbury and Towles and they eventually met. In his earlier career, Harrison Salisbury was the real-life chief correspondent for The New York Times in Moscow. The author of an important history of the Russian Revolution, Black Nights, White Snow, his memoirs were the source of some of the detail Towles uses in A Gentleman in Moscow. Salisbury’s cameo appearance in the novel, along with the mention of his fedora and trench coat (stolen by the Count as a disguise) pay tribute to Salisbury’s literary legacy on early twentieth century Russia as well as the author’s serendipitous connection with him.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: A Gentleman in Moscow

“Like the Count, she realises that good fortune and privilege can be”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: A Gentleman in Moscow

“A13/ He jumps off a cliff believing he is boarding a boat skippered by his dead wife. A14/ They are both in the air force. A15/ So that she will have a reason to visit him again.   Back to Contents”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: The Light Between Oceans

“wherever money is exchanged for the procurement of a child, there is the danger that children and families will be exploited.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours

“Wingate reminds us that elderly people with cognition problems are just as vulnerable to abuse as children, and relatives do not always know what goes on behind closed doors.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours

“How many of the following trivia questions can you answer correctly? Answers are over the page:- Q1/ What is Janus the god of? Q2/ What is Isabel doing when Tom first sees her? Q3/ What does Isabel do to Tom’s map of Janus Island? Q4/ Apart from a baby and a dead man, what other two objects are in the dinghy that lands on Janus Island? Q5/ What is Lucy doing on the only occasion when Tom tells her off? Q6/ What nationality is Frank and what is his real name? Q7/ Why is Hannah’s father, Septimus, sent alone to Australia when he is just a small boy? Q8/ How often does the store boat visit Janus Island? Q9/ What does Tom’s father enclose in his final letter to his son? Q10/ When Hannah prays in church, whose statue does she sit by? Q11/ Lucy/ Grace goes missing on two occasions. In each instance, where is she eventually found and what is she doing?”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: The Light Between Oceans

“As the story progresses we learn that the dragonfly bracelets have a special significance for the Foss sisters. When they are reunited as adults, May gives each of her sisters a bracelet as a symbol of their connection to each other and also as a reminder of the siblings that they have lost.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours

“Avery sees parallels between the adoptive parents, whose money gave them a ‘right’ to a child, and her own family. She realises that, if she succeeds her father as senator, the role will be handed to her not through merit but on a silver platter of privilege.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours

“May becomes a successful musician, Lark (adopted by film stars) goes on to marry a rich businessman, and Judy becomes a society gossip columnist before marrying a senator.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours

“previous “life of the purposefully unrushed” becomes a race against time.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: A Gentleman in Moscow

“Over the course of her life, she also acquires three husbands in very different lines of work: a teacher, a preacher and an artist.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours

“Fern goes on to marry a doctor and have children. She then moves in with her older sister until she dies.”
― Kathryn Cope, Study Guide for Book Clubs: Before We Were Yours