1. As the story opened,
Margot appeared to be an independent and confident young woman. How do
you think her character changed throughout the story, and what caused
those changes? What do you feel was her greatest strength and weakness?
2. How do you think the loss of her mother affected Margot? How did this
change throughout the book, particularly when she learned the truth?
3. Georg and Margot developed feelings for one another after mere days.
What did you see in their time together that attracted them so
powerfully? Do you believe it is possible to fall in love so quickly and
for such a relationship to last?
4. How was it possible for Margot to keep secrets from those she
professed to love most? How did it affect her relationships with her
father, with Georg? Do you think that Margot’s choices were justified by
her intentions?
5. Margot and Krysia became such close friends despite significant
differences in age and circumstances. What do you think it was that drew
them together, and what did each of them provide for the other? Have you
ever found yourself in such a close but unlikely friendship?
6. Margot was a very young woman dealing with situations that most of us
today would find completely over whelming at age twenty. What do you
think it was that Margot really wanted out of life?
7. What did you think about Margot’s relationship with Stefan? Could you
sympathize with her, being torn by an old promise to a man she didn’t
know anymore and her love for a man that offered her a promising future?
What would you have done in her shoes?
8. Margot experienced anti-German sentiment from those around her who
saw her as the enemy. Do you think this was a fair judgment, given the
political climate of the time? Do you think this type of mentality still
exists today?
9. The post-WWI era is less familiar to some readers than WWII and other
historical time periods. What did you like about a novel set during this
time? Did you identify with any symbolic items, people or places
throughout the book? What did they represent to you?
10. Do you agree that Margot’s relationship with her father improved
over the course of the novel? How so, or how not?
11. What do you think happens six months after the end of the book? Six
years?
12. The
Ambassador’s Daughter is the prequel to two of Pam Jenoff’s
other novels, The
Kommandant’s Girl and The
Diplomat’s Wife. If you have read those, how did you feel
this book compared? Did knowing what happens twenty years down the line
color your reading of this book?