About The Resurrectionists

The jobs of 18th century grave robbers and Maisie′s curiosity about her past begin to intersect in the present ...

Can Maisie control the demons she is unwittingly beginning to unleash in the present? As she begins to dig into her grandmother′s past, Maisie sets in motion forces which are seemingly uncontrollable. Until she comes to the horrific realisation that Dr Flood might be alive still and if he is, is there any hope at all of saving herself and her family ...

Questions for Discussion

1. The Resurrectionists is concerned with how the present can′t free itself from the past. In what different ways is this concern repeatedly returned to in the story?

2. Maisie Fielding spends a great deal of the story in a state of melancholy. What do you think is her real problem?

3. When Georgette says of Virgil "my own pain I can endure... but I am not strong enough to endure his," what do you think she means? Why do you think she stays with him despite his opium addiction?

4. Maisie accesses her psychic power through dreaming in the story. How convincing do you find the idea that the unconscious mind may be a well of untapped power?

5. Who is the real "bad guy" of the book? Dr Flood, Reverend Fowler, Sybill, Janet, or someone else?

6. Why is Maisie so attracted to Sacha? Is it inevitable that their relationship unfolds the way it does?

7. Kim Wilkins′s books have been described as "page-turners." Do you agree? If so, how do you think this effect is achieved?

8. Janet tells a horrific story about Sybill′s treatment of her. Does this family history justify Janet′s behaviour in any way?

9. What role does setting play in the story? Do you think it′s important that it takes place in the depths of winter? If so, why?

10. The Resurrectionists is by an Australian author, about an Australian character doing an essentially Australian thing: holidaying in the UK. But does it feel like an Australian book? What constitutes its Australian-ness or unAustralian-ness?

About Kim Wilkins