Tesco Book Club

The Scandal of the Season
by Sophie Gee

a brilliant, witty modern love-story - set in 1711

August Book

Discussion Questions

• “Scandal” was a common word in the eighteenth-century, used to describe sensational events that were gossiped about among the small, self-contained circles of the fashionable rich. “Season” was also an important term, referring to the time when fashionable society met to orchestrate new engagements, friendships and alliances in town. Why might these two words be chosen for the title?
• Ambition, and the risk are key themes of The Scandal of the Season. What kinds of hopes and ambitions are rewarded in the world of the novel? What kinds of risks don’t pay off?
• The objects that circulate in the world of the novel are very often delightful but ephemeral: flowers, delicate silks, feathery costumes, letters, costly food and drink. What do such perishable goods suggest about the world and the characters described?
• Several characters who seem to be very different turn out to be oddly similar. In what sense might Alexander and Arabella be seen as strangely comparable? Are Lord Petre and Teresa similarly misguided in any ways?
• Martha is different from the other characters in that we feel she has special qualities that deserve to be rewarded. And yet she doesn’t achieve all that she would like. What are the circumstances that limit Martha? Would an Australian girl living now face any of the same limitations, and how might she attempt to overcome them?
• Alexander is constrained by his disability, and by being a Catholic in a Protestant country. How would these problems affect a person today, what do they tell us about ways the modern world has changed?
• Lord Petre seems a very historical character, but a young man, inflamed by passionate ideals, is a timeless figure. What might such a person be like now? What are some of the issues that youthful idealism are now directed towards?
• In some ways the experiences in this novel seem very familiar to modern readers. But the difficulty and unfamiliarity of the language reminds us that the past is very far away, different from our own. Why might the author want to suggest of these both ideas?
• Some of the most important moments in the novel involve exchanges between servants and masters, and other characters whose social status differ markedly. Why would the author want to draw attention to the significance of such asymmetrical, imbalanced relationships?
• The Scandal of the Season is a novel inspired by a poem. One of the things this might make us think about is what novels can do that poems can’t, and conversely what a poem does with language and imagery that a novel doesn’t. How would you answer the question “what is a novel”?