Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Hill of Secrets by Galina Vromen

1. Who was your favorite character and why?
2. How does each main character change during her/his time at Los Alamos? To what degree does Los Alamos itself — its isolation and veil of secrecy — contribute to those changes?
3. Christine says she keeps secrets so as not to hurt other people. To what extent do you agree with her and to what extent do you think she keeps secrets so as not to take responsibility for her actions?
4. Although Kurt is a central character, he only gets one chapter and only very late in the book. Why do you think the author chose to do this?
5. Do you think the scientists had a responsibility to consider the impact of what they were building at Los Alamos while they were building it?
6. If you had lived at Los Alamos and participated in building the bomb, do you think you would have felt like Kurt after the war or more like Thomas or Owen? Why?
7. What was the most striking thing you learned about Los Alamos and the history of this period by reading this book? What image, passage or feeling evoked in the book did you find particularly memorable?
8. When do you think it is important to keep a secret and when is it important to divulge a secret — in private life and on a national/political level?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Lake Union Publishing. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.