Book Club Sets

Book Club Author Suggestion: Tana French

“My memories of them had rubbed thin with overuse, worn to frail color transparencies flickering on the walls of my mind” ― Tana French, In the Woods

By Regan Harper: Published on
Book Club Sets

Brief Bio

Tana French (born 10 May 1973) is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress who was born in Burlington, Vermont.  Her father was an economist who worked on resource management for the developing world, which provided the opportunity for French to live in numerous countries as a child including Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi.

French attended Trinity College Dublin, and trained in acting. She settled in Ireland and has lived in Dublin since 1990.

Available Works in the Colorado Book Club Resource

The Book Club Resource has 8+ copies of each title available for 8 weeks at a time to reading groups across the state.

In the Woods| Discussion Questions

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past. Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.

The Trespasser | Discussion Questions

Being on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.  Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before. And that her death won’t stay in its neat by-numbers box. Other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn’s boyfriend, fast. There’s a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinette’s road. Aislinnʼs friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be. Antoinette knows the harassment has turned her paranoid, but she can’t tell just how far gone she is. Is this case another step in the campaign to force her off the squad, or are there darker currents flowing beneath its polished surface?

A Few Notable Facts

  • The first six novels are part of the Dublin Murder Squad series.
  • In the Woods and The Likeness, were turned into an eight-episode series of Dublin Murders, which was released in 2019 on STARZ in the US.
  • In the Woods Awards: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller (finalist); Edgar Award for Best First Novel (winner); Anthony Award for Best First Novel (winner); Macavity Award for Best First Mystery (winner);  Barry Award for Best First Novel (winner).

Selected Quotes

  • If you rewrite a paragraph fifty times and forty-nine of them are terrible, that’s fine; you only need to get it right once.
  • Both back when I was acting and now that I’m writing, I’ve always wanted the same thing out of my career: to be able to get up in the morning and do what I love doing.
  • I’m always looking for the potential mystery in everything; I can’t imagine writing about anything else.
  • I’ve always seen places as being very deeply connected to the experience that people have in those places. I think that probably comes through very much in my books.
  • I don’t really plan ahead very far. I have never known what I’m doing more than a few pages ahead.
  • I love writing. I feel ridiculously lucky that this is what I get to do all day.
  • I’ve always loved strong women, which is lucky for me because once you’re over about twenty-five there is no other kind. Women blow my mind. The stuff that routinely gets done to them would make most men curl up and die, but women turn to steel and keep on coming.

Sources

Book club sets are circulated to participating libraries via the CLiC courier. Read all about the program on the Book Club Resource landing page. If you are interested in receiving book club sets but are not already a member library, use the online form to get signed up.

Since the BCR has always relied on book donations, we are deeply grateful to all of the institutions and individuals that have donated sets and helped make the collection stronger. Please contact bookclub@coloradovirtuallibrary.org for questions or to discuss donations.

Regan Harper
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