Hope Was Here Family

No one can blame Hope for wanting a family straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. We're talking the one where Mom, Dad, and six freckled-face siblings are sitting at the dining room table waiting patiently for Grandpa to carve the Thanksgiving turkey. But it's just not in the cards for her. In Hope Was Here, what Hope comes to realize, though, is that shared bloodlines don't necessarily create a family—it's the people who take care of you, love you for who you are, and stick around for the good and the bad.

Questions About Family

1. In what ways are the employees of the Welcome Stairways like a family?
2. Do you agree with Addie's philosophy that it's important for Hope to "save and remember the things" her absentee mother "passed on" to her? Why or why not?
3. Why is Hope both glad and sad after Deena's quick visit to the diner?

Chew on This

Hope's ability to recognize G.T. as the ideal father is initially clouded by the pictures of the dads she's kept in her scrapbooks and her mind for so long.

The waitressing tips Deena shares with Hope are thinly disguised as motherly advice.