FRAILTY OF FACT

About This Guide

FRAILTY OF FACT is a psychological thriller that examines the fragile nature of truth, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Through Elodie's fractured recollection of a violent morning at her family's lake house, the novel explores what happens when a lifetime of gaslighting collides with a single moment of reckoning.

These discussion questions are designed to spark conversation about the novel's complex themes: unreliable memory, family secrets, the legal system's treatment of trauma survivors, and the uncomfortable space between victim and perpetrator.

Discussion Questions

1. The novel opens with Elodie unable to remember what happened at the lake house. How does her fractured memory shape your experience as a reader? Did you trust her, doubt her, or find yourself shifting between the two?
2. The title "Frailty of Fact" suggests that facts are fragile, bendable, or easily broken. How does this idea play out across the novel? What "facts" does Elodie - or her family - rely on that turn out to be more fragile than they appear?
3. Elodie describes being told throughout her life that she "misremembers, misunderstands, mishears." How does a lifetime of gaslighting affect her ability to trust her own perceptions? How does it affect yours as the reader?
4. The lake house appears in family photographs as "a perfectly ordinary family." What role does the lake house play as a symbol in the novel? How does its meaning shift from the beginning to the end?
5. Regina and Carter claim Elodie "finally snapped," pointing to a "mental history" the family manufactured. How does the novel explore the weaponization of mental health narratives against survivors? Did this resonate with real-world patterns you have observed?
6. Elodie's lawyer tells her that being found not guilty by reason of insanity is "mercy" - the court believing she is "sick, not evil." Do you agree that this is mercy? What does the novel suggest about how the legal system categorizes and processes trauma?
7. Elodie writes the lake house scene multiple times throughout the novel: "Once as a story that makes me safe in my own head. Once as a confession that takes that safety away." Why do you think the author structured the story this way? How does repetition and revision mirror the way trauma survivors process their experiences?
8. Near the end, Elodie writes: "If you steal someone's reality long enough, something has to break." Do you believe the novel frames what happens at the lake house as inevitable? As a choice? As something more complicated?
9. The novel's climactic revelation is that Elodie picked up the knife first - Regina's hand was empty. How did this change your understanding of the story? Did it change how you felt about Elodie?
10. Elodie reflects that she "did not lie about what they did to me. But I have been lying about what I did back." Can both of these truths exist together? How does the novel challenge the binary of victim and perpetrator?
11. The final image shows Elodie looking "straight at the monster" and letting "her look straight back." This echoes the ending of the author's other novel, KINDRED. What do you think it means to stop looking away from the darkest parts of yourself? Is this moment meant to be healing, damning, or something else entirely?
12. If you were to recommend this book to a friend, how would you describe it? What type of reader do you think would most connect with Elodie's story, and what would you want them to know before starting?