Reader's Guide copyright © 1997 by The Ballantine Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc.


Praise for Connie May Fowler and Before Women Had Wings

"Fowler creates powerful intimacies....Bold, honest, and intelligent."
--The Washington Post

"Strong prose....Rings real and authentic."--Los Angeles Times

"A heart-bruising plunge in the wails and scrapes of what it sometimes must have been like to grow up poor in small-town Florida in the mid-1960s....Fowler's most honest, penetrating, and therefore most disturbing look at this sometimes unspeakable world."--The Miami Herald

"Achingly real, yet more than real, Before Women Had Wings has the authentic ring of truth and myth combines."--Lee Smith Author of Saving Grace

"[Fowler] triumphs....[Her] prose is never less than as sinewy as cypress trees and as rich as Christmas cake....Few writers capture poverty's weird chemistry of aching hope and grinding pessimism like Fowler....This novel will make you hurt in the best way--and make your mind, like Bird's, fly high over pure, paradise seas."--The Atlanta Journal & Constitution

"Fowler's deeply moving, truimphant third novel brilliantly conveys a child's bewilderment....She sweeps the narrative along with plangent, lyrical prose...and establishes herself as a writer of formidable talent."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

1.         This story takes place in the mid-1960s. How have our perceptions of child abuse changed since then? What options do families have today to cope with domestic violence that they might not have had thirty years ago? Women--especially poor women like Glory Marie--had far fewer opportunities than women today. Did that lack of opportunity contribute to her anger and frustration and the physical abuse that resulted?

2.         How would you describe the differences in the ways in which Bird and Phoebe deal with the same set of difficult circumstances?

3.         Why do you think Billy Jackson committed suicide?

4.         Why does Bird shut herself off verbally from the outside world? Why do you think she becomes convinced that a blackbird stole her voice?

5.         What is the significance of Miss Zora's role as a guardian of the bones of dead birds?

6.         What do you think happened to Bird's family in the years after the story ends? Do you think Glory Marie recovered from her fear-scarred life? Did the family reunite? Did Phoebe make it to college and stability? Did Bird find some measure of peace and pleasure in the healing presence of Miss Zora?

7.         How does Bird manage to remain full of hope under such difficult circumstances? How might you react if you were in her shoes? What is it that keeps this family together despite the abuse and turmoil?

8.         In considering a picture of Jesus hanging on her bedroom wall, Bird says, "He was skinny, but I bet He was strong. I loved his silky, long brown hair . . . . In my daydreams, Jesus and I would walk off into a blazing sunset, holding hands. I may have been nothing but a kid, but in that gauzy dream, I was gorgeous. There we were, Him with his Prell-perfect hair, and me sporting a good figure. In my heart of hearts, Jesus was my first boyfriend. And I was dead certain he loved me special. . . ." Why was Bird so preoccupied with Jesus and with religion? Why does she think Jesus and the Devil are battling for control of her life? And why does she feel jilted by Jesus?

9.         Do you think Glory Marie truly loves her daughters? Why didn't she feel like she could keep the family together and get help for her alcoholism and abusive nature at the same time? Do you think she made the right decision in allowing the children to go with Miss Zora?

10.         Do you think Bird's brother, Hank, understands how bad things are for Phoebe and Bird? Why doesn't he take stronger steps to intervene or keep his sisters from being hurt by their mother's beatings?

11.         Is it fear or jealousy that causes Glory Marie to cut up Bird's Christmas present for Miss Zora? What fueled Glory Marie's dislike of Miss Zora? Why do you think Glory Marie engineered things so that Bird got blamed for stealing money from Mr. Ippolito?

12.         Why does Bird blame herself and her sister for the beatings they receive at the hands of their mother?

13.         How does the picture of Florida painted by Fowler differ from the way Florida is depicted in other books?

14.         While many people might want to leave such memories behind, Fowler admits she wants to keep these memories alive and vibrant. Why? What purpose do you think these painful memories serve for Fowler?

15.         Fowler mixes themes of religion and spirituality in her stories. How does Fowler's use of spirituality compare to spiritual themes in other books you might have read?

16.         What is it that Bird learns from Miss Zora about hell, and why does this change everything for her? What do you see as the connection between the kindness of Miss Zora and Bird's discovery of her own capacity for forgiveness?

17.         Fowler says that Miss Zora believes that forgiveness is for the people who are doing the forgiving; it's a way for them to create a usable past instead of the past continually dragging them down. Do you agree with Miss Zora's ideas about forgiveness? If so, why?

18.         This book is clearly the story of Fowler's own childhood. How do you think her siblings felt about having their family history revealed in the pages of a novel? How would you feel under similar circumstances?

19.         Fowler has said, "I wanted to characterize the mother honestly, presenting the trauma she inflicted but also the inner turmoil; that she was reacting out of frustration. I also want to reveal the humanity of her life. I hope it comes off in the book that she was very courageous." Do you see the mother as a humane or sympathetic character? Do you consider her courageous?

Connie May Fowler grew up in St. Augustine, Florida, until her father died when she was only seven years old, leaving Connie, her sister Deidre, and their mother Lee in near poverty. They moved to Tampa, and as her mother struggled to make ends meet as a motel bookkeeper and maid, Connie sought refuge in books: "I could be transported from the awful circumstances of my life by simply opening a book. And writing went hand in hand with reading. Writing to me was a kind of salvation." While Connie attended the University of Tampa on a full scholarship, her mother, who had never really gotten over the loss of her husband, started drinking heavily and eventually died of cirrhosis. Connie, feeling lost, quit school and spent two years traveling through the United States and Mexico. She returned to Florida, where the provost of the University of Tampa spotted her working as a waitress and persuaded her to return to the university where she earned a B.A. in English. Connie married Mika Fowler in 1987 and moved to Kansas, where she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Kansas. A professor there encouraged her to take a class in fiction writing. "That suggestion turned everything around for me. The fiction professor treated me for the first time in my life as if I was truly a writer. With her, everything coalesced. Fiction suddenly made sense to me." Sugar Cage, Connie's critically acclaimed debut novel, began as a short story written to fulfill a writing assignment for a fiction workshop. It evolved into her graduate thesis and eventually into a novel. Critical praise continued with her next two novels, River of Hidden Dreams and Before Women Had Wings.