The Diviners Tale by Bradford Morrow

About the Book

Hired by a developer to dowse a lonely forested valley in upstate New York, Cassandra Brooks happens
upon a girl hanged from a tree. When she returns with the authorities, the body has vanished, leaving in
question Cassandras sanity. The next day, a dazed, mute girl emerges from the woods, alive and giving
uncanny credence to Cassandras terrifying vision.
Increasingly bizarre divinations ensue, leading this struggling single mother of twin boys back to a past
shed long thought was behind her. Soon Cassandra is locked in a mortal chess match with a real-life
killer who has returned from the past to haunt her once more. The Diviners Tale is at once a journey of
self-discovery and a murder mystery, a bittersweet family chronicle and tale of the fantastic.

Questions for discussion
1. In The Diviners Tale, nature functions not only as a backdrop to the action but in many ways as a
character itself. We see one example of this early on, when the birds flash warning lights at Cassandra
as she enters the woods: Noisy warblers flitted in the bushes. Redstarts and yellowthroats. . . . A
redwing blackbird cried out over my left shoulder. What are some other examples of nature as
character?

2. What do you think is causing Cassandras forevisions? Have you ever seen things other people have
not, or witnessed someone dowsing or otherwise knowing something she or he seemingly should not?

3. What are some of the meanings and metaphoric values of the word divine that are used in this
novel?

4. Names are doors to ideas, Cassandra Brooks says. Who was the Cassandra of Greek
mythology? Why might Morrow have named Cass after her? Why do you think the other characters
names were chosen? Why might Morrow have named Cassandras home Corinth County? What doors
does your own name open?

5. In The Diviners Tale, both Cassandra and Nep both face challenges to what they had experienced as
reality: Cass from her monster and Nep from his Alzheimers disease. What do these challenges have
in common? How are they different? What does each challenge say about reality? Do you think
reality is a subjective experience?

6. What do you think of Neps confession that he is a fraud?

7. Cassandra identifies five turnings, defining moments, in her life. What turnings do you identify in
your own life? Are hers anything like yours?

8. How do Cassandra and Rosalie each cope with Neps failing health and increasing dementia? Have
you had a similar experience with a loved one? If so, how did your experience resemble or differ from
Rosalies or Cassandras?

9. Cassandra and the twins constitute an unusual family unit in the context of her small town. Do you
think hers is a normal family? How do you think Niles contributes to the strength of her family?

10. On at least two occasions, Cassandra disavows divining of the fortune-telling or reading-the-future
sort, but there are a number of occasions when she reads signs or meaning in things she encounters,
and acts accordingly. What are some examples? Can you think of times when you may have done
something like this yourself?

11. How is fear shown and expressed in The Diviners Tale? What moments do you find most
frightening?

12. Cassandra tells her sons, A photograph is yesterday, a person is now. And now is better, just ask
yesterday. In a world where photography is now ubiquitous, what do you think the value of
photographs is?

13. Morrow has stated in interviews that he deliberately paced The Diviners Tale to read less like a
conventional mystery than as a novel about coming to terms with the feelings of being different, of not
being understood, of learning the deeper nature of ourselves. He has also, unconventionally, brought
elements of the supernatural and gothic into this literary novel. Do you think authors should stick to
the rules when it comes to genre fiction or do you prefer writers who push the boundaries?

14. Cassandras tale moves back and forth in time between several periods of her life, following the
path of her own thoughts rather than a strict chronology. What effect does this have on the way the
narrative unfolds? What does it say about how Cassandra solves the mystery in her life? How does it
affect you as a reader?

15. What is Occams Razor? Do you think it always holds true?

16. What is the significance of each of the books two settings (rural New York and a coastal island in
Maine)? What do you think the authors intentions were in creating imaginary places like Covey Island
and Corinth County, and situating them adjacent to real locales, such as the Cranberry Islands and the
Delaware River?

17. Are the dynamics of Cassandras townamong the adults, among the childrentypically those of a
small town, or do you think this story could have taken place in an urban setting?

18. Nep and Rosalie represent unshakeable faith in things that cannot be provenNep knows dowsing
truly finds water and Rosalie knows there is a Godbut both dowsing and religion have been
discredited by certain scientific or philosophical circles as myths that are simply not provable. Where do
you stand on this?

19. What do you think Cassandra learns when she sets aside her own beliefs and tries to follow Rosalies
devout Methodist beliefs instead? What is Morrow saying about faith and belief?

20. What do you think the books epigraphs mean?

21. How do Cassandra and Laura respond to the traumas they each experienced? Do you empathize
with them as they recover? If you (or someone you know) has experienced trauma or abuse, and if you
feel comfortable discussing it, how did your (or their) response and recovery compare to the ways in
which these two characters reacted to their experiences?

22. Morrow is a male author writing in the voice of a woman. In your experience as a reader, can male
and female authors write with equal authority in the voice of the opposite sex? What are the
fundamental differences, if any, between male and female narrators?

23. What kind of relationship does Cassandra have with each of her parents? What kind of relationship
does she have with her sons? Sometimes the twins act almost as parents to their mother. Other times,
Nep serves as a surrogate father to his grandsons. Discuss the overall dynamic of parenting in the book.

24. Childhood is defined in part by its secrets from adultsthink of Christophers cave, the gangs rough
game of turding, the privacy of Lauras brothers treehouse. Why do you think Morgan and Jonah,
who are quite mature for their years, dont keep more secrets from their mother? What were some of
the defining secrets of your own childhoodand are you still keeping them?

25. There is a lot of wordplay throughout The Diviners Tale. One early one is the word halcyon,
which Cassandra thinks of as meaning hell, see yon. Where else do you see wordplay at work?

26. Metaphors and similes do much to set the tone of a story. Early on, for example, Morrow describes
the forsythias near where Laura is found as nodding up and down and side to side . . . as if offering a
host of conflicting opinions. What are some of the metaphors or similes you find most memorable?

27. At times, Cassandra sees her life as an endless improvised film of only one take, in which we all
play roles in each others productions. Do you find this a familiar sensation? How does the rise of
reality television jibe with Cassandras observation?

28. How is Morrow influenced by Greek mythology in The Diviners Tale?

29. How do you interpret the picture on the anonymous St. Francis postcard that Rosalie delivers to
Cassandra on Covey Island?

30. Do you see the characters in The Diviners Tale as simple or complex? What makes them soboth
in terms of the personality Morrow has given each one and in the way he has written each as an
element of the novel?

31. What are the meanings of the titles of each part of the book?

32. What are some of the ways Morrow weaves his research about the history and techniques of
dowsing and divining into the novel? What did you think about Martine de Berthereau, one of the
earliest known female diviners in recorded history? Do you see her as someone who was, as Cass
suggests, a very modern woman in her way and day?

33. The doppelganger, a characters mirroring double, is a traditional figure in literature. In what ways
does Laura become a doppelganger for Cass?

34. Cassandra tells the reader, My problem had always been that I could forevision what others ought
to do but was too often blinded when it came to my own life. Do you relate to this statement? What
does it say about the way the novel is written, about Morrows approach to the mystery genre?

35. More than once, Cassandra is not wholly truthful with Niles about what is happening. She similarly
fudges the truth with her parents and with the twins at times. Yet, she also tells Morgan that secrets
can eat away at the heart of a family. How do you reconcile honesty, secrecy, and white lies? How
does she?

36. How and why do you think Mrs. Milgate died? Do you think that Cass and her mother made a
mistake observing their neighbors time-honored desire to be left alone when they made their walk
around the island?

37. What do you think about the idea that art inspires us to look at the world with different eyes? Do
you agree with Jonah that being sick works the same way? How do looking, seeing, vision, and blindness
function in this novel?

38. Do you consider Cassandra to be whats known as an unreliable narrator, someone who tells
readers things they ought not trust as factually accurate? Or is she, to you, a woman who has
experiences that truly go beyond the explicable, the everyday, the known?

39. If you have experienced something that might be seen by others as paranormal or just plain
strange, how have you dealt with it in your own life? Have you hidden it from others because you think
they might not believe you, or might castigate or laugh at you? One of Cassandras greatest challenges
in The Diviners Tale is to learn to accept herself, her gift. Have you faced a similar challenge in your life?

40. Have you ever encountered someone like James Boyd? Do you think that Cassandra made the right
ethical, or even legally correct, decision in not telling him that he is the father of two children after his
very brief and reckless sexual encounter with her?

41. Just as Morrow has alluded to Greek myth throughout The Diviners Tale, he has woven
Shakespeares The Tempest into his story, especially given that Covey Island would seem not to appear
on any map of Maines Mt. Desert Island. Cassandra refers to Nep as a poor mans Prospero near the
beginning of the book. What does she mean by this? How else does The Tempest influence the novel?

42. When we meet Cassandra she is thirty-five, and her two sons are going through puberty. But in
what sense might The Diviners Tale be thought of as Cassandras coming of age story?

43. In a typical thriller that portrays a serial killer, the focus is more equally balanced between the
victims and the perpetrator. Morrows main focus is not on Roy, nor has he actively tried to hide Roys
guilt. Why do you think the author chose to keep the focus primarily on Cassandra and Laura?

44. Cassandra says, All we had ever been were stories, and saying ourselves, unveiling our stories, was
the best, the only, chance at divining ourselves. What does she mean by this? Are we all storytellers
who are also essentially diviners?

45. An obvious answer to the question of why Morrow would introduce a new character, Grace Sutton,
in the last pages of The Diviners Tale is that he will write a sequel, but he has said in interviews that he
currently has no such plan. If that is the case, why do you think he elected to create a new character
with a problem she brings to Cass at the very end of the book?

A Conversation with Bradford Morrow about The Diviners Tale
How did you discover the mysterious art of divining?
Through one of those ridiculous to the sublime circumstances. I had the very mundane problem of a
frequently flooded basement in my old farmhouse in upstate New York, and an excavator I knew
recommended I contact a local water-witch to dowse the land around the house so he didnt make a
mess guessing with his backhoe. Id never seen a real dowser at work before. It was amazing. His rod
half leapt out of his hands as he walked along. He told me there was a strong underground stream
running at such and such a depth and distance from the house and, to cut a long story short, he was
absolutely right about everything he said. As it turned out, my plumber is also an old-school dowser,
and when I marveled at what Id witnessed, he gave me the friendly pitying look of someone whos so
used to everyday divining that it was he who marveled that I should marvel.
How far have you delved into the world of divining yourself?
I went so far as to attend Basic Dowsing School at the American Society of Dowsers convention in
Vermont a few summers ago, where I had the good fortune to study with a wonderful, magical woman
named Marty Cain, among others. I have my diploma to prove it, and a small collection of the diviners
toolsbobbers, rods, and pendulumsbut I wouldnt recommend you hire me if your well runs dry.
Do you consider yourself a diviner?
I consider myself at best an amateur dowser. But I can say with certainty I no longer consider myself a
doubter. Everyone is in his or her own way a diviner. And thats what the novel is in part
about. Certainly being a writer demands that one engage in a form of divination, but thats true of so
many creative activities in peoples lives.
The Diviners Tale seamlessly brings together themes such as religion, philosophy, Greek mythology,
baseball, and bird-watching, and also creates a mash-up of literary fiction, mystery, and fantasy. How
were you able to bring all those ideas and elements together so flawlessly?
Thats such a nice question I hate to ruin it with an answer. In fact, Ive never really viewed the so-called
genres of fantasy and mystery as being, by definition, distinct from the literary. Ive read any number
of fantasy and mystery works I think of as highly literary. Im keenly aware that one of the old cardinal
rules of mystery is that it doesnt mix with the supernatural. P. D. James mentions this in her recent
Talking About Detective Fiction: All supernatural agencies are ruled out. But the world into which I
was drawn with this bookCassandra Brookss worlddefied such conventions, and so did I.
The Diviners Tale seems distinctly different from your other novels in that theres no overt political or
historical dimension at its center.
I think earlier novels like Giovannis Gift and Trinity Fields examined the deeply political nature of family
relationships. The Diviners Tale is, in many ways, about what its like to be a true outsider, gifted in
ways the culture finds unacceptable or even bogus, trying to negotiate a path through the real world,
the supposedly sane world. So the politics in this book are more familial and local. More about how
some people considered freakish by society are often our most incandescent, brilliant members.
Dowsing, or divining, is rich with metaphor. You play with ideas of the seen and the unseen, and with
literary writing within the mystery. Are there hidden literary references in the book?
Youre right, divining is one of the richest metaphors Ive ever worked with, even though much of the
divination in the novel isnt metaphoric at all, but the real deal. I always love weaving hidden allusions
in my novels. Beyond the obvious reference to the Cassandra myth, though, I think its best to leave it
to readers to do their own divining.