I'll Come to You

"Rebecca Kauffman writes like a sunbeam, strong and warm on whatever lands in her path. This book only looks short--in reality, it reveals a family so richly drawn, so deep and complex, that it contains the whole world." --Emma Straub

A modern and classic story of family, I'll Come to You chronicles intersecting lives over the course of one year--1995--anchored by the anticipation and arrival of a child. With empathy, insight, and humor, Rebecca Kauffman explores overlapping narratives involving a couple whose struggle to become pregnant has both softened and hardened them, a woman whose husband of forty years has left her for reasons he's unwilling to share and the man who is now disastrously attempting to woo her, a couple in denial about a looming health crisis, and their son who is fumbling toward middle age and can't stop lying. Ultimately, these storylines crescendo and converge into a dramatic and harrowing turn of events. With heart, wit, and courage, and through pain, these characters traverse territory that both challenges and defines the bonds of family.

Sweeping yet compact, I'll Come to You investigates themes of intimacy, memory, loss, grief, and reconciliation, and the wonder, terror, frustration, fear, and magic of brushing up against the unknowable--both around us and within us.

These book club questions are from the publisher, Counterpoint.

Book club questions for I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman

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

The book considers the reverberations of new life. In what ways does Olivia's presence—both before and after her birth—impact those around her?

The book takes place over the course of one year, told in monthly stories. How did this structure impact your reading?

Do you have specific memories of 1995? Or is there a year in your life that felt similarly significant?

The first chapter, titled JANUARY 1995, takes place thirty years ago, from the date of publication of this novel. How are the lives and circumstances of the characters impacted by the timeframe in which the book is set?

In FEBRUARY, Corinne holds the belief that in spite of Paul's unwavering support and the love they share, there will always be "fissures and chasms...territory she would walk alone." Do you agree with her perspective? Why or why not?

In APRIL, Rob is "wallop[ed] by the immensity of his needs." How would you defiine these needs, and do you believe they relate to his pattern of lying?

In JUNE Pt. 3, Janet defines a daughter's superpower as her "... ability to give and to take so much and so fast that a mother could never feel anything fully ... [or] feel anything safely." What do you make of this assertion, from Janet's experience, and/or your own?

In the dramatic argument between the siblings on Christmas Eve, do you find yourself siding and sympathizing more with Rob or Corinne? What about in Ellen and Gary's argument in OCTOBER?

Gary and Ellen meet as recent divorcees. How are their experiences and journeys toward healing alike and different?

Paul seems unable to escape thoughts of his father. How does this shape his own experience of early fatherhood?

There are various moments when characters reflect on the idea of being known. To what extent do you believe people can truly know one another? Or themselves?

Near the end of the book, Janet experiences a powerful desire to go back, "all the way back." Can you identify with this? What sort of circumstances and emotions might inspire this particular sense of longing?

I'll Come to You Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the I'll Come to You discussion questions

Praise for I'll Come to You:

“A warmhearted new novel about a complicated family.” —Greg Cowles, The New York Times Book Review

“Intimate, wise and funny. . . A true gem about life's changing seasons.”—People Magazine

“A gentle, comic touch… sweet and satisfying."—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“The joy in this book is something to admire deeply. . . . Kauffman does provide, with exquisite precision, all the toxic snits, the petty furies, the lure of nostalgia, the gnaw of needs never met. But she insists, too, on granting each character, siloed though they may be, their share of wins. The delights aren’t cheap, either: Kauffman loves them enough to bestow upon them the genuine, radiant, quiet, don’t blink kind of happiness. She shows us there is room in a novel—as in the heart—for everyone.” —Claire Luchette, The New York Times Book Review

“Kauffman packs an abundance of heart in her compact book as she explores the hopes, disappointments, inadequacies and triumphs of woefully normal people who aren’t always likable. . . . Kauffman’s flawed characters don’t just tug on the heartstrings. They are everyday people searching for relevance who linger in the mind long after the tale concludes.” —Leah Tyler, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Kauffman reveals who her characters are at a fast clip with carefully selected details that suggest she has an exceptional ability to read humans. . . . What sticks with me is that, like for the characters in I’ll Come to You, no matter my state of ordinariness or the extent of my flaws, I can change to do a better job of loving the people I’m striving to love and also in receiving love.” —Mary Ann Zehr, The Harrisonburg Citizen

“Each of [the characters] is portrayed with deep compassion – a word that comes up often when describing Rebecca Kauffman’s work. The description is particularly fitting for this novel, where the simplest yearnings tend to stir complex emotions.” —A. Delphine Delmore, Southern Review of Books