Printable: Book Club Questions for The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

The story starts off with a prologue of Lydia’s final conversation with Freddie. She talks about how so many of life’s defining moments happen unexpectedly. Do you agree with this? What did you think about the opening chapter?
The chapters alternate between “awake” and “asleep” where “awake” is the timeline where Freddie died and “asleep” is when he’s still alive. What did you think about reading these two timelines side-by-side?
While Freddie is alive in the “sleep” timeline, much goes wrong. Her sister Elle miscarries a baby and her and Freddie began to have issues with him traveling so much. What did you think about these developments—why did things seem to fall apart more in the “sleep” timeline, despite Freddie still being alive?
Josie only experiences the “sleep” timeline when she takes pills and for a while there, she takes it pretty consistently to be with Freddie. What was the key factors that forced Josie to spend more time in the “awake” timeline?
Would you want to experience two timelines like Josie did? Have you had dreams that felt so realistic when you woke up that you thought it actually happened?
A key part of this novel is the slowly developing love story between Josie and Jonah. Let’s talk about our thoughts on this. Could you tell that Jonah was in love with Josie all along? When do you think she started to see him in a different light in the “awake” timeline?
We really get to see her relationships with Freddie and Jonah develop. Do you think she was better suited for one over the other?
Let’s talk about why Josie ran off to Croatia after her sister gave birth.
On page 314 after a fight with Freddie, Lydia says: “I can’t ignore the fact that I’m changing anymore, that the me that visits Freddie in the other world is less and less like the Lydia he knows. And in truth I like this new version of me better. She’s still really messed up, but she’s plucky. Adventurous and strong. She’s been trying to move slowly forward, walking against the tide, and all this time I’ve been trying to pull her back.” Let’s discuss what she’s saying here.
What did you think about the ending and her finally getting together with Jonah? Lydia tells Jonah that there’s more than one happy ending for everyone—let’s talk about this.