Heart of Glass Book Club Questions
by Jennifer Hillier
These questions assume everyone has finished the book and contain spoilers, including the ending.
Heart of Glass gives book clubs plenty to untangle: secrets, guilt, power, friendship, and the stories people tell to survive. The novel moves between past and present, so readers can debate what characters knew, when they knew it, and whether any of them can be trusted.
Use these questions to guide your conversation, whether you meet in person or online. Pick a few that spark the strongest reactions, let everyone share first impressions, then dig into the choices that still feel unsettled. There are no right answers here, only good arguments.
Secrets, Guilt, and Confession
- 1.Barb keeps the full truth about Lorelei's death from Dr. Leto for six years, even as he retires and moves to Lisbon. How does that withheld secret shape her relationships with Nicolette and with her own therapist, and what does it mean that Marty's journal finally proves she and Nicolette did not kill Lorelei?
- 2.Nicolette agreed to sit down for the Criminal Confessions interview even though she and Barb long ago promised never to speak of 'it.' Did you understand why she broke that pact, or did it feel like a betrayal of Barb and the friendship they buried along with the truth?
- 3.Marty's journal reveals Lorelei was still alive after Barb and Nicolette left the Starlight bathroom and that Hawk strangled her. How does that revelation reframe the guilt Barb and Nicolette carried for twenty-five years, and did it make you sympathize with Marty despite his role in the story?
- 4.Kylie lies to Kaycie that she is okay because she wants to erase Kaycie's terrified look, and a ring is slipped back onto her finger, probably by Cole. Why does Kylie choose a protective lie in that moment, and what does the ring come to symbolize by the end?
Power, Coercion, and Justice
- 5.Hawk tells Barb and Nicolette they are responsible for Lorelei's death, threatens them with arrest, and later says losing the baby is probably for the best. How does that abuse of power shape both women's lives, and did his eventual arrest for Lorelei's murder feel like adequate justice?
- 6.Samuel Figg confessed to Lorelei's murder because interrogators would not believe him and it seemed easier, then died of lung cancer four days after his final interview. What does his story say about coerced confessions and true-crime spectacle, and did his exoneration change how you saw him?
- 7.Alice Chu turns out to be Owen's accomplice and an obsessive fan who wants to keep Cole. How did her claims that love and fear made her help Owen affect your view of her, and did her earlier role as Barb's police contact make the betrayal more shocking?
- 8.Richard Montes gives Cole his twenty-five-year sobriety chip and insists Sam Figg is the only villain, while Cole thinks none of the villains in Lorelei's story was Sam. How does Richard's redemption arc affect Cole, and did you trust that he had truly changed?
Survival, Loyalty, and Betrayal
- 9.Kylie tells Sydney she must obey their captor or he will kill her, then the narration calls her a liar. How did you interpret Kylie's survival strategy, and did you agree with the group's decision to let her finish Owen and keep the cabin story secret?
- 10.Cole and Annika plotted an affair with Jordan so Cole could collect the prenup's infidelity payout, and Cole later watched the surveillance footage of Jordan and Annika on the marital bed. Did you agree with Cole's choice to orchestrate the affair rather than simply divorce Jordan, and how did it affect your sympathy for her?
- 11.Barb writes snarky Reality Bitch recaps of Trophy Wives, then resigns after learning how online cruelty affected Sydney Carlisle. How does her side job conflict with her loyalty to Lorelei and Cole, and did quitting feel like genuine growth or too late?
Reinvention, Memory, and Buried Spaces
- 12.Cole Lennox legally changed her name from Nicolette Montes, told people she was from Seattle, and stored what was left of Nicolette in a shoebox. What does her return to Seaside and Hawk calling her Nicolette suggest about reinvention, and can she ever truly escape her past?
- 13.Ingrid Larsen is found wearing Kylie Kahl's peridot ring, Sydney Carlisle vanishes on the way to Seaside, and the names Nathan Shelley and Rebecca Welton turn out to be fake Ted Lasso references. How effectively did the mystery connect three reality stars to Seaside, and did you suspect Owen or Marty before the cabin confrontation?
- 14.The Clown Museum, the Dollhouse, and the tunnels where the Very Bad Things happened were razed and sealed off, yet Wonderland reopens and the past returns. How does the novel use buried and sealed spaces to explore memory, and what does Eileen Sparrow's warning about bad juju add to that theme?
Endings and Accountability
- 15.The novel ends with Hawk arrested, Figg dead, Kylie reunited with Freddie and Kaycie, Nicolette heading to rehab, Barb adopting Marvelous and finishing her novel, and Barb growing closer to Cam. Did this ending feel hopeful or unresolved to you, and which character's resolution satisfied you most or least?