Billie's kiss - Elizabeth Knox
KORTE INHOUD
1. Could the story of Billie and Murdo have happened anytime, anywhere? What aspects of it depend on the fact that it is set in the Western Isles of Scotland in 1903? 2. Billie's Kiss begins with the explosion of a ship that might be an accident, an act of sabotage, or murder. Why do you think Murdo jumps at the idea of blaming Billie for the crime? Though we know Billie is innocent, she feels culpable because the kiss she and her brother-in-law exchanged seemed to bring on the tragedy, 'as if their kiss was a match to a fuse.' Explore the ways in which Murdo and Billie both carry guilt for the deaths of others: the two Ingrids, Karl, Ian, and Edith. 3. What feelings did Billie's dyslexia and clumsiness arouse in you--sympathy, exasperation, admiration, disgust? 'She was born knowing,' Murdo says, 'in compensation for her incapacity.' Consider the points at which she overcomes her old habits or reveals new strength. Do other characters, too, have weaknesses to match their powers? 4. We think of eugenics as a ...
