Book Clubs that Travel: Nowhere Near Goodbye

Guest post by Barbara Conrey

Hello Readers,

Nowhere Near Goodbye is the story of family, promises, and forgiveness. The setting is Intercourse, Pennsylvania—yes, there really is a village named Intercourse—located near Blue Ball and Paradise in Lancaster county. I picked this setting because it’s relatively local to where I live, and no matter how many times I overhear a tourist comment, “I love Intercourse!” (referencing the quaint shops and cafes), I have to snicker. I wanted to add just a spot of levity to the setting of Nowhere Near Goodbye.

The time frame of the novel covers the 1970s through early 2000. Long before COVID reared its ugly head. I don’t seem capable of writing a book that transpires within one year or even one decade.

If your book club were to visit Intercourse, Pennsylvania, you would want to go in the early spring or late fall. Summer in Intercourse is for fools. The traffic along Route 30 in the summer would make you wish you’d packed an extra set of underwear because the road becomes bogged down with tourists who are unused to the slow horse and buggy traffic from the Amish and Mennonite religious sects that also travel this road. There tends to be a lot of horn blowing in the summer.

So let’s imagine you make the trip in late October. If it’s a sunny day, you might only need a light jacket, maybe just a sweater. You could start your day with a visit to The Amish Farm and House, which provides a somewhat realistic view of daily Amish life, and then move on to the Bird In Hand Farmers Market where you can purchase Apple Butter ( a local delicacy made of cooked- down apples, sugar, and spices)  and hand-rolled soft pretzels. 

Then there’s the Mascot Roller Mill with its historic grist mill and the Strasburg Railroad, the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere and the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

You can also make a side trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, the ‘sweetest place on earth’ where the streetlights are Hershey Kisses, and you can buy your weight in chocolate.

Here are some questions you might want to ask when you discuss Nowhere Near Goodbye.

• Even though Kate only appears in the Prologue and Epilogue, do you feel her presence in the story? Do you think Emma and Kate had a healthy childhood friendship? Did Kate ruin Emma’s life or save Ali’s?
• Do you think Emma really wanted a baby? Maybe even just in those first few moments before reality set in? Is it possible to want one thing so badly and then give it up because of a promise?
• I worried about the scene where Emma stands at the top of the basement stairs with Ali in her arms. Every time I bring it up to readers, they seem to understand Emma’s intensity at that moment. Have you ever felt the need to do something so wrong, yet that need was so overpowering you almost acted on it? 
• What did you think of Ned’s reaction to Emma’s announcement that she was pregnant? Can his single-mindedness be overlooked to any degree? Does he ever redeem himself?
• Emma is under immense stress while pregnant, yet there are times when she experiences complete joy: the first time she feels her baby kick, when she delivers Ali, and experiences those first few moments of complete happiness that her baby is healthy and beautiful. Have you ever been under intense stress yet still been able to experience a moment of joy? 
• The book suggests that Kate influenced Emma after Kate died. Emma was unable to explain her internal feelings that she had to save Kate even though Kate was dead. Do you think it’s possible for someone who is no longer of this world to maintain enough existence on Earth to influence someone? Or was Emma’s guilt that she lived and Kate died the impetus that kept her searching for a cure?
• Emma and Tim travel a path of love and loss that is excruciating. Only after Emma succeeded in what she set out to do, and only after Tim recognized that his love for Emma was not enough, did they reach a point where they might join forces for the sake of Ali (both before and after Ali’s surgery). Do you think Emma will ever trust herself to be a wife to Tim again and a mother to Ali? Do you think Tim will ever trust that Emma’s love for them is enough? 
• And what about Ali? Is she merely curious about Emma, or does she see her father’s love for Emma and is willing to take a chance on her? 

Nowhere Near Goodbye, published on August 4th, 2020, by Red Adept Publishing,  is USA Today Bestselling author Barbara Conrey’s debut novel. Previously, Barbara worked in the health care industry before opting for an early retirement, which lasted all of three months. She then accepted a finance position, for which she had absolutely no background, and four years later, she decided to write a book. But not about finance. Travel is her passion, along with reading, writing, hiking, and exploring antique shops. Her greatest love is Miss Molly, her rescue beagle. There are stories to be told about beagles, and Barbara hopes to incorporate some of them into her books. Barbara lives in Pennsylvania, close to family and friends.