Here are a few questions to get the conversation going. Got a question to add to the list? Send an email through the Contact page on this website and we’ll add it to the list.

Did your sympathies lie with a particular character at the outset of the story? Did that change as you progressed through the book?

What did you know about the U-2 affair prior to reading The Florentine Entanglement? What is your theory on why the Soviets never publicly protested the overflights in the years before the shoot down?

Share what you. might know about the pervasive sense of unease caused by the nuclear threat of the era.

Consider the female characters in this novel, including the minor characters. Discuss the ways their lives were proscribed in this era, despite their abilities and educations. Given the cultural limitations, what are the ways you see of women in this novel trying to get ahead, trying to exercise their individual agency, and assert their identities? What are their obstacles to achieving this?

Compare the actions and attitudes of art professor Cossutta and CIA officer Talbot.

Like War Bonds,a clergyman plays an important role in this story. Discuss how Rev. Grant differs from other men Eleanor has known.