Ashes

Isabel carries a handful of seeds. At the end of the book, she is separating the rotten seeds from the good in preparation for farming a piece of her own land. The series of books that Ashes concludes is, not coincidentally, called Seeds of America. What symbolic role do seeds play in this story?

It’s clear to everyone but Isabel that she’s in love with Curzon. How does Anderson lead the reader to see this before Isabel does, and why?

Look up the names that Anderson gives her characters. Why might she have chosen “Isabel,” “Curzon,” “Aberdeen,” and “Ruth” as the names of her heroes? What meaning can you find in the history and associations of these names?

Look back at the passages of Ashes that mention ghosts and spirits. How do Isabel and Ruth’s feelings about ghosts change over the course of the book, and what might ghosts mean to this story?

Ruth suffers from what a modern reader would call epilepsy, and she thinks differently than a lot of the people around her. How does Anderson’s depiction of Ruth step outside ideas of “normal” and “abnormal,” and how does this depiction connect to some of the book’s other themes?

When Ruth makes up stories about what’s happened to her long-lost friends, Isabel almost tells her that there’s no chance that they’re still alive but then holds herself back, reasoning that these stories help Ruth to keep loving those she’s lost. What is the importance of storytelling in Ashes?

Curzon and Aberdeen take up opposite sides in the American Revolution, both hoping that their chosen side will do right by enslaved people in the end. Both are, in different ways, disappointed, though Isabel helps Curzon to hope that better times will come in America. How does Ashes deal with the complex legacy of the War of Independence?

Isabel struggles not to let her suffering harden her heart and must learn how to win back her sister’s trust and to admit her feelings to Curzon. What does Ashes suggest it takes to keep one’s heart open? What pitfalls must Isabel overcome?

Anderson’s characters often tease each other with archaic insults like “looby.” How does Anderson’s use of language affect the reading of the book? Why might Anderson have chosen this kind of language?