Writes Historical Fiction

Book Club Questions

  1. Who were your favorite characters? Why?
  2. What was the Church of Scotland mission in Calcutta like before Reverend Hastie arrived in 1879? Were relations between the College and the Female Mission cordial?
  3. Why did William Hastie accept a call to Calcutta? What did he hope to accomplish?
  4. Did you like William Hastie? Was he a good person for the position of Principal at Scottish College?
  5. Did your opinion of William Hastie change during the course of the book?
  6. What was Mary Pigot like? How did she interact with the Scottish and Hindu communities?
  7. Did Mary Pigot make good professional choices? Or was she impulsive?
  8. Did your opinion of Mary Pigot change during the course of the book?
  9. Why did Mary Pigot need so much assistance from the faculty at Scottish College?
  10. Was William Hastie’s assessment of Mary Pigot’s qualifications and behavior accurate?
  11. What caused the feud between William Hastie and Mary Pigot? What does it reveal about the politics between the Church of Scotland’s two missions?
  12. What type of relationship did Mary Pigot have with James and Katherine Wilson?
  13. What type of relationship did Mary Pigot have with Babu Kali Churn Banerjee?
  14. What do you think was the root cause of Mary Pigot’s difficulties?
  15. Did the Foreign Mission Committee, the Investigating Committee, and the Ladies’ Association act appropriately when charges were made against Mary Pigot?
  16. What do you think of the witnesses who testified for William Hastie? Were they unbiased, or did they have grievances against Mary Pigot?
  17. Why do you think William Fish came forward with his testimony?
  18. Would Mary Pigot have received more payment in damages if William Fish hadn’t testified?
  19. What do you think of Mary Pigot’s testimony? What about William Hastie’s testimony?
  20. If you were in Justice Norris’s place, how would you have ruled?
  21. Was Justice Norris a fair judge? How does he interact with the witnesses during the trial?
  22. After Justice Norris gave his verdict, do you think the Foreign Mission Committee made the correct staffing decisions?
  23. Why didn’t the Church of Scotland grant William Hastie’s petitions? What made them change their decision?
  24. What do you think the trial was about?
  25. Should Pigot v. Hastie have gone to trial? Did anyone win?