Harbor Lights

Before you read

1. The story opens above a Newport harbor, among galas, yachts and family boards. What do you enjoy about novels set among the very wealthy, and what do you hope this one does differently from the stereotype?
2. Sienna builds flawless evenings for other people while a private ambition waits out of sight. Have you ever set aside something you wanted for yourself? What would it take to bring it back out?
3. Romance often puts two people with unequal power in the same room. What would you need to see on the page to believe that kind of relationship is fair?
4. Think of someone who looks after you by taking charge. When does that feel like care, and when does it start to feel like control?

Discussion questions

Spoilers ahead. Finish the book first.

1. At the gala, a drunk bidder jeers at Sienna from the floor, and Dominic ends it with a bid of one hundred thousand dollars. He says he ended it; she says he only redirected it. Who do you side with, and what else could he have done in that moment?
2. On the yacht, Sienna sets her conditions and Dominic writes them down in his own hand, ending with "NO PERSONAL ENTANGLEMENTS." Alongside them sits a legal clause that forbids a personal relationship. How do the two sets of rules differ, and which one does the story test first?
3. When Dominic quietly reschedules her work without asking, Sienna tells him, "Protection is not the same thing as permission." He apologizes and undoes it. Does the book make that kind of change feel earned, and where does he slip back?
4. Money is everywhere in this story: the black card, the refused fee, the jacket she insists is not a contract, and a vendor contract that runs through his own foundation. How does the book handle wealth, power and professional boundaries between these two? Can a relationship stay fair across a gap that wide?
5. Dominic says he grew up in "excellent tailoring and emotional rationing," while Sienna's family loves her through practical advice and worry about money. How do the two families shape what each of them fears, and what each of them needs?
6. In the museum gallery, Dominic says, "Because permanent things imply trust." The penthouse, the yacht, the cove house and the quiet house all play a part later. What does each place say about him, and what do you make of the line "Home is built, not bought"?
7. Sienna confesses to drafting a profile of Dominic, he tells her to delete it, and she does. Then he finds typed pages and accuses her, and she leaves. Who owed whom more honesty in that scene, and was her silence a betrayal, a fear, or both?
8. After the break, Dominic sends a key and a note, then asks that no one follow her or report on her. Later he steps back from his company. Do these read to you as growth, as another grand gesture, or as something in between?
9. Early on, Dominic tells Sienna, "Then write," and later her aunt urges her to take the safe contracts instead. What does the book say about private creative ambition, and what changed for you when Sienna read her pages aloud at the library?
10. Onstage at the end, Sienna answers a reporter with "I am not a rescue project." What does each of them risk by the last page, and does the ending give you a partnership of equals or something more lopsided?

Pairing menu

Drink

Strong black coffee, the way Dominic takes it, or a mug of tea you make yourself, the way Sienna does on the yacht.

Bite

Yogurt with berries and honey and buttered toast, the breakfast Dominic puts together in the galley, or a slice of spanakopita like the ones Sienna's mother promises for Sunday dinner.

Setting

A window seat above a harbor with a fire going and a wool blanket, or a quiet table under a green-shaded lamp in an old library reading room.