Book Group Questions

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Winter Study
By Nevada Barr

Discussion Questions

1.    Were you surprised how foreign a landscape Isle Royale appeared to be to Anna? Have you been somewhere in a different season and found it totally changed (Northern Wisconsin, for example)?

2.    How much did you know about the wolf and moose population on Isle Royale before reading Winter Study? Did you learn something interesting and new here?

3.    The claustrophobia of the novel is acute: both within the cabin and the island itself with no way off and no way to travel far without others' knowledge. Did that aspect heighten the tension for you? Is it typical of other books by Nevada Barr?

4.    When Anna was trapped on the ice did you think it might really be the end of her and the series? Were you shocked that she could get out of the icy water? Will you remember her method if you need it some day?

5.    How persuaded were you that there might be a monstrous wolf (or maybe a werewolf) on the island? How did Barr get you, as a reader, to entertain this notion (if you did)?

6.      Have you been to Isle Royale in the summer? Did you enjoy it? Would you travel there in winter if it were allowed?