The Five of Us
By Sian Gilbert
From the bestselling author of She Started It comes an unsettling, propulsive thriller where home is not a sanctuary, isolation looms, and the future has evaporated. All that's left is fear, frustration, and an anger that won't go away.
Meet Crow, Goldfinch, Starling, Wren, and Cuckoo--five girls who will never tell you their real names. They're the brightest students at an underfunded, inner-city Bristol school, pushing toward opportunity despite the odds stacked against them. They believe they're on the cusp of something better ... until the world abruptly shuts down. Exams are cancelled, their plans collapse, and the future dissolves into a fog of uncertainty.
With long nights, a city under curfew, and nothing left to lose, the girls slip into a world of dark possibility. Each illicit outing becomes its own kind of dangerous magic. Their choices spiral--from reckless to ruthless--and by the end of a strange, suspended summer, more than one person will be dead.
Seven years later, the survivors have not spoken since. But someone knows what happened. Someone who has been watching. Hunting. Taunting. As they stumble through an adulthood they were never prepared for--and reckon with all the wounds of a generation left behind--the rage that bound them together in the past resurfaces with lethal force.
They broke the rules. And now the rules may end up breaking them.
These discussion questions were provided by the publisher, Blackstone Publishing.
Book club questions for The Five of Us by Sian Gilbert
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
We never learn Crow, Cuckoo, Goldfinch, Starling, or Wren’s real names. What do you think the significance of this is, and why do you think the author chose to give them bird nicknames in particular? What do you make of the fact that Goldie’s name is contracted further?
The five girls’ descent into delinquency ends in fatal consequences. Did you find their gradual progression from well behaved schoolgirls to dangerous rebels convincing? What do you make of their evolving personalities as they break more and more rules?
Bishop’s House is a central setting in the novel. Why do you think it becomes so important to the girls, and what do you think it represents?
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Create My ClubWhen Cuckoo stabs Hugo Fletcher, were you surprised? What about afterward, when the five girls kill and conceal him together? Is Crow delivering the final blow a result of peer pressure, or something she wanted to do? What does this escalation in their behavior demonstrate about them? Do they understand the gravity of their actions?
“She is a freeze-frame that never ends.” How did you react to Goldie’s death toward the end of Part One? What do you think it represents thematically for the narrative? Do you think Goldie would have approved of her friends letting everyone think she was a missing person?
This is a novel of two halves. Which did you prefer, and why? Which themes do you think are most prevalent in each half? How important do you think class commentary is to both sections?
Cassandra Fletcher is a complicated character. We learn that what she values most is “simply being,” even if that means covering up for her husband’s murders. How do you feel about her and the choices she makes throughout the novel, and what do you think of her own assessment of her life at the moment of her death that she would do it all again?
“I was in denial. Swamped in grief. I was not prepared for a child, especially not one as precocious as her. Maybe I did resent her, alright? Maybe there was some hate there. But I love her too. I never said it, but I love her. She’s my brother’s child.” Does this passage and what we learn about Patricia in this chapter change your perception of her from the first half of the novel? Do you have any sympathy for her?
Do you think the ending for Patricia is deserved? Do you think it is fair that Crow, Cuckoo, Wren, and Starling face no legal repercussions for their part in what happened?
Goldie has the final word in the story. Even though she is physically absent from the second half of the novel, her impact is still felt by each of her friends in different ways. What did you make of the ways they still remembered and connected with Goldie? Was her presence emotionally resonant for you? Would you agree that Goldie is the most important character in the novel?
Did you find the ending was what you wanted, or would you have preferred something different? Do you consider it a happy ending or a sad one, and why?
This book explores the impact of lockdown on a young generation and the experiences they lost forever during the pandemic. Do you think the novel effectively highlights their anger and frustration? Through the lens of a thriller, is this wider theme explored enough? What do you think about how the pandemic and lockdown have changed younger generations?
Which character was your favorite, and why? Do you also have a favorite scene?
The Five of Us Book Club Questions PDF
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