Do you know where and how your grandparents met? Where they were from? If immigrants, do you know how they came to the United States?
Have you ever spent time researching your family history? What prompted your interest? Did you encounter any surprises during the search?
Is there anyone in your family who is particularly interested in genealogy? Why do you think that is? Does the rest of the family think they are a bit obsessed?
If you have older relatives, have you ever asked them about their youth? What was their reaction to being asked? Did you record or somehow document the conversation?
Has anyone in your family ever suffered from mental illness? How did the rest of the family deal with this?
Previous generations seemed to assume that family secrets were something NEVER to be discussed. The social media generation assumes that ANYTHING can be discussed. What are the plusses and minuses of each approach?
Did the experience of Francesco and Elisabetta make you think differently about the current debate over immigration? How so?
Immigrant Secrets talks about a family secret that was kept for over 80 years. Has there ever been a secret in your family that suddenly popped to the surface? How and why was it revealed? What was the reaction?
BTW, I’m happy to be on any Zoom book club calls.
And the book is HERE.