All Grown Up

Neveah is fifteen. A schoolkid. With a secret life. She's a digital freelancer, and is having an affair with her biggest client. Giles is married. He thinks Neveah is twenty-two. She'll do just about anything to stop him from finding out her true age. But secrets have a way of spilling out. With devastating consequences.

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with DartFrog Books.

Book club questions for All Grown Up by Catherine Evans

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Both of Neveah’s parents fail her in different ways. What do you think the effect of long-term emotional neglect is on children?

Neveah is a very vulnerable character, despite her intellect, ambition and strength. What kind of adult do you think she’ll turn out to be?

If a man has sex with an underage girl who has convincingly lied about her age, do you believe he is still culpable?

One of the themes in this book is the early sexualisation of young girls and society’s collusion in this process, including by the girls themselves. In your opinion, what can be done to better protect children, often from themselves?

While the circumstances are very different for both of them, Giles and Billy are effectively guilty of the same crime. Billy is a working-class boy who does not have Giles’s advantages. Do you believe that Giles is protected by education and status?

Do you sympathise with Billy? Is he a criminal, or is he a victim of an enduring culture of toxic masculinity?

Neveah’s stepmother, Sandra, is a good role model and takes better care of her than either of her own natural parents. In your experience, have you come across other step-parents who are good influences in the lives of their stepchildren?

Do you believe that parents have a right to commandeer the earnings of their underage children? Under any circumstances?

Does Marie deserve Neveah’s forgiveness?

Mother/daughter relationships are extremely complex. In Marie’s case, she’s jealous of her daughter. How prevalent do you believe mother/daughter jealousy to be?

Is it possible that Blue can abuse a twelve-year-old girl and yet be a good father to his own son?

Do you believe that Christine will stay with Giles? What would you do in the same situation?

What character traits do you think Neveah and Serena have in common?

All Grown Up Book Club Questions PDF

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