Resources
The Trojan Dog - Discussion Questions
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Could Canberra become the IT criminal capital of Australia?

Why does Sandra Mahoney become obsessed with solving the mystery of the missing money, and proving Rae Evans's innocence? How much does this obsession have to do with her mother's death?

Does Rae Evans deserve all the time and effort Sandra puts into clearing her name?

What's your opinion of Sandra? Does she have the makings of a cyber-sleuth? In The Trojan Dog, she takes the first steps towards becoming a professional investigator. Which skills has she mastered and which does she still need to learn?

What about her colleague and sometime lover, Ivan Semyonov? Is Ivan a trustworthy partner? What does he contribute to the partnership?

Is a crime novel without a murder missing an essential ingredient?

Does Brook's serious illness in some way 'stand in' for a corpse? What do you think of Brook as a character?

What is your opinion of the city of Canberra as it's portrayed in The Trojan Dog? How does it compare with stereotyped portraits of the national capital? With your own impressions?

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Resources
One For The Master - Discussion Questions
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Loyalty and friendship are important themes in One For The Master.
How important to Helen is Queenie's friendship?
Is Helen's friendship as important to Queenie as Queenie's is to her?
Why does Helen seem to find it easier to make friends with older woman than with girls her own age?
What do these friendships tell you about Helen's relationship with her mother?
In what ways is Wally's friendship with Young Ian similar to Helen's friendship with Queenie? In what ways is it different?
Is marriage contrasted, even opposed to friendship in the novel?
Do you think Helen's marriage to Wally is a good one?
Do you expect it to last?
What about Helen's mother, Frances's, marriage to Sandro?

The relationship between people and machines is also a major theme.
Helen says that the looms 'bewitched and terrified' her and describes each weaver's way of greeting her loom when she arrived for work early in the morning.
'One stroked the whole of her loom's right side with two forefingers. Another laid the palms of her hands flat along the top. Another caressed the shuttles, gently stroked their lacerating tips.'

Is this how other character regard the machines they work with?
What about Queenie?
Helen's Uncle Len?
Do the machines have a life of their own?
Who or what is responsible for Len Pritchard's death?
Is it caused by a straightforward industrial accident, the kind that could happen to anyone, the kind that should have been avoided?

How important is the river?
Could the river be called a character in the book?
Are its powers entirely natural, or does it have supernatural powers as well?
Are the ghosts and the yellow mist Helen sees figments of her imagination?
The river is a force to be reckoned with, especially when it floods. To what, and to whom, is it opposed?

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