13. Custody revolves around Linda Lowry, as she is influenced, for better or for worse, by her parents’ troubled relationship, most especially after their divorce when she is four years old, and their subsequent two-year battle over her custody. What does the story tell you explicitly about her first four years living with Myles?
How would you describe their relationship?
What does Linda seem to remember about those times together?
14. Did you form an opinion about Rosalyn’s parenting and personality as you were reading Custody? Especially mindful of her mantra of “A woman has to be her own person.” Did Angie Flynn’s final revelations of her private discussions and time with Linda late in the story have any influence on your opinion?
15. Happydale offered Linda her first in-school experience, after a few years of home schooling by her mother.
What did you learn about Linda as she tried to figure out how to interact with the bully, Deirdre, and her supporters, and her own ally, Clementine, aka “Red?”
16. Even as a six-year-old, Linda relates to adults as many “only children” who spend most of their early life more with adults than other kids.
Who does she tend to befriend?
Who does she tend to avoid as you witness her over the six weeks of Custody?
What sense about people does she seem to possess?
17. As you read Custody, did you perceive any difference in the way Linda spoke in general and when she was explaining what her mother told her about the books they were reading, especially about Jinns in Arabian Nights and men in everyday life in 1992 America?
18. Do you think Linda will grow up to be like Rosalyn, with regard to her view of men and husbands? What in the book makes you think that way?
19. What insights into how Linda is affected by living with both her parents again did you obtain as you read the Epilog?