Things We Cannot Keep
By Amanda Cox
A mysterious package. A name she thought she'd erased. And the one person she never expected to see again.
Tess Holcomb has built a new life in Alabama, repairing timepieces and avoiding her troubled past as she restores her customers' family heirlooms--treasures she never had. When a mysterious package arrives addressed to Teresa Baker, the name she abandoned, Tess finds herself drawn into a puzzle that threatens her delicate peace.
Then Elliot Sullivan appears at her door after eighteen years, and Tess knows he's after more than just forgiveness. She doesn't trust his motives, but he could be the key to uncovering the origin of the mystery package and its cryptic contents.
Tess has found safety in her simple life, but to reunite this lost heirloom with its rightful recipient she will have to come out of hiding. Each clue leads her further from the security of home, and each story reveals hidden truths. The question is whether she's brave enough to face what she might find--and whether the man beside her can be trusted with what matters most.
Award-winning author Amanda Cox crafts an intercontinental journey of connection, healing, love, community, and belonging perfect for book clubs, fans of Southern fiction, and readers of T. I. Lowe, Charles Martin, Sara Brunsvold, and Valerie Fraser Luesse.
These discussion questions were provided by the publisher, Baker Publishing Group.
Book club questions for Things We Cannot Keep by Amanda Cox
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
If you had received a lost heirloom, a tidy sum of cash, and a note from a mysterious benefactor asking you to find its rightful owner, how would you have reacted?
The title Things We Cannot Keep suggests both loss and preservation. What do you think the story ultimately says about things we should hold on to and the things we were never meant to carry?
Tess built a new life surrounded by the stories and memories of others while distancing herself from her own past. Despite all the good things in her new life, what limitations did she face by refusing to see her own story as valuable?
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Create My ClubTess and Elliot have a complicated history, laced with misunderstanding, forced separation, and the immaturity of youth. Tess’s healing journey takes center stage in the story, but do you think Elliot experienced his own version of healing through his involvement in the heirloom’s journey home? What did Elliot need to learn?
The lost heirloom takes Tess on an adventure she never expected. Of all the people and places she visited along the way, what was your favorite location or moment?
Do you think healing requires revisiting painful memories, or are there some things better left buried?
Things We Cannot Keep Book Club Questions PDF
Download a printable PDF of these discussion questions to bring to your meeting.