Margaret of Thibodaux follows fourteen-year-old Margaret through a sultry Louisiana summer in 1974, as her father’s engagement to Muriel threatens to erase what’s left of her mother, dead six years. When Margaret discovers a mysterious poem at her mother’s grave, she turns to Jezebel, a local recluse with spiritual gifts of her own, to uncover a truth that will change how she understands her family—and her grief.

 

1. Margaret initially sees Muriel’s kindness as a threat rather than a gift. Why do you think she resists so fiercely, even as everyone else embraces the engagement?

 

2. The novel blends humor and heartbreak throughout. Did the humor make the grief easier to sit with, or harder?

 

3. Margaret’s connection to her mother has a spiritual, supernatural dimension. Did you read that as literal, as a child’s way of processing loss, or something in between?

 

4. Jezebel is an unconventional figure—a local recluse rather than a typical mentor. What does she offer Margaret that no one else in her life can?

 

5. How does the specific setting—1974, small-town Louisiana—shape the choices available to Margaret and the adults around her?

 

6. Margaret’s two best friends embrace Muriel wholeheartedly. What does their reaction reveal about Margaret’s own resistance?

 

7. Have you experienced a moment where holding onto grief felt safer than letting it change?

 

8. Without spoiling it directly, how did the novel’s central revelation change your understanding of Margaret’s mother—and of Margaret herself?

 

9. Do you think Margaret’s resistance to Muriel is really about her mother, or about something she hasn’t admitted to herself yet?

 

10. What role does the town of Thibodaux itself play in the story?

 

11. Would you have wanted the truth Margaret uncovers, or would you have left the mystery alone?

 

12. What do you imagine happens to Margaret and Muriel’s relationship after the novel ends?