Describe how the relationship between Aaron Levy and Helen Watt evolves over the course of the novel. Why do they initially clash when they begin working together? How does the fact that Aaron is Jewish and American, and Helen is not, impact their relationship? How does their relationship change each of them by the novel’s end?

Before Ester Velasquez comes to London, a number of factors make it possible for her to develop intellectual interests and a willful independence. In what ways is her life typical of a woman’s life during the 17th century? In what ways is her life different? How does her situation speak to some of the novel’s key themes and ideas about gender?

How are love and desire depicted in the novel in terms of characterization and through the novel’s key themes? Are love and desire reconciled with intellectualism by the novel’s end? Why or why not?