What the Heart Knows: A Milford-Haven Novel - Book One (38 page)

Does your own sense of purpose come more from your head or from your heart? Is it possible to be committed to a life purpose or mission if your heart isn’t in it?

Create a one-page collage from magazine pictures. Use only images of things your heart desires, no matter how outlandish they seem. Live with the collage for a month. Do your feelings about it change? Does anything new come into your life?

Can you think of a scenario where your
head
says the situation is hopeless, but your heart says something can be done? Challenge yourself to use this awareness to do something special for another person or for an organization.

To discover more about the Secrets Of the Shells
visit
www.MaraPurl.com
To join the author’s blog
visit
www.MaraPurl.WordPress.com
.
To reach the author, by email: [email protected] by mail: Mara Purl c/o Milford-Haven Enterprises
PO Box 7304629
North Hollywood, CA 91603

 

What the Heart Knows

 

Reading Group Topics for Discussion

 

1. What is nurturing and supportive about a small town? When should privacy take a back seat to “public good”?

2. Is Samantha in crisis? What function does journal-writing perform in her life? Have you ever kept a journal? What did it do for you?

3. Is reporter Chris Christian courageous or foolhardy? Was her trip to the Clarke House impetuous or well-calculated? Should a journalist do almost anything to get at the truth?

4. Do relationships make us more complete? Or are we already complete, and we bring this quality to a relationship? Would you choose a life partner with your head or with your heart? Why?

5. What makes an artist like Miranda Jones essentially different from other people? Is she a serious artist, or should she get a “real” job when she “grows up”?

6. Why do some women manipulate every personal and business relationship? What are Zelda’s motives? Have you known anyone who stops at nothing to get what she wants? Do you admire or resent her behavior?

7. Is Miranda responding to a deep and soulful recognition when she meets Zack? Is there such a thing as the “right” partner? How can you tell? Can there be more than one?

3. As a former journalist who wrote for the Associated Press, the
Financial Times of London,
and
Rolling Stone
(among others] Mara Purl was trained to do extensive research and to report accurately. How does her journalistic background seem to influence her as a novelist?

9. Why is this book called
What the Heart Knows?
Does this phrase apply only to Samantha and her journal-writing? Does important information come to you through both head and heart? How do you decide which to trust?

To share or print these discussion points please visit:
http://www.BellekeepBooks.com

 

Mara Purl, author of the popular and critically acclaimed
MilfordHaven Novels
and
MilfordHaven Stories,
pioneered smalltown fiction for women.

Mara’s beloved fictitious town has been delighting international audiences since 1992, when it first appeared as
Milford-Haven, U.SA.©—
the first American radio drama ever licensed and broadcast by the BBC. The show reached an audience of 4.5 million listeners in the U.K. In the U.S., it was the 1994 Finalist for the New York Festivals World’s Best Radio Programs.

Early’ editions of her novels have won fifteen finalist and gold literary awards including the Benjamin Franklin, Indie Excellence, USA Book News Best Books, and ForeWord Books of the Year.

Mara’s other writing credits include plays, screenplays, scripts for
Guiding Light,
cover stories for
Rolling Stone,
staff writing with the
Financial Times (of London),
and the Associated Press. She is the coauthor (with Erin Gray) of
Act Right: A Manual for the On-Camera Actor
.

As an actress, Mara was “Darla Cook” on
Days Of Our Lives
. For the one-woman show
Mary Shelley: In Her Own Words,
which Mara performs and co-wrote (with Sydney Swire), she earned a Peak Award. She was named one of twelve Women of the Year by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women.

Mara is married to Dr. Larry Norfleet and lives in Los Angeles, and in Colorado Springs.

Visit her website at
www.MaraPurl.com
and subscribe to her blog or to her newsletter. She welcomes email from readers at
[email protected]
.

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