If you want printable discussion guides for any Carol Ashby novel for your book club or students, you can download them here for each book in the stand-alone Light in the Empire series.
The Light in the Empire series is a mosaic of stories set in the Roman Empire of Trajan and Hadrian between AD 106 and 129. They are Early-Church stories where being a Christian is illegal and pagans with Christian friends wrestle with whether accepting the Truth is worth the risk of dying for it. Each can be read stand-alone, but some characters and locations appear in more than one to create, as one reviewer described them, a “universe” set in the Empire at its zenith.
The stories include non-romantic friendships, spiritual arcs, potentially deadly circumstances, and romantic subplots. Each includes a historical note about an aspect of Roman culture especially relevant to the story and a list of discussion questions. The stories all lend themselves to creating a discussion about living as a faithful Christian in a culture that’s increasingly hostile.
All are historically accurate, and you can find many articles here that can provide background information about life in Roman times. I keep the articles at the site PG-13 or milder to be suitable for teachers and students to use.
These are general audience stories that adult readers will find both enjoyable and thought-provoking. A few have young-adult main characters, and those are well suited for older teens. They could be excellent springboards for discussing how someone can live faithfully in a culture that’s hostile to their faith, not unlike young Christians face today.
Faithful, Forgiven, Hope Unchained, and True Freedom have leading characters who are in their later teens and early twenties. Most teens over sixteen and some younger ones should find them exciting, thought-provoking, and faith-encouraging. The questions here will create an opportunity for thinking and talking about matters of faith as they head into the adult world. I would have let my own daughter and son read these after they were in 9th grade.
You can download a pdf of the discussion guide at the back of each novel here. They are formatted for single-sided printing for easy use by a book club or students.
Crushed Hopes and Hopeful Beginnings
If there are other things in the book that your group loved discussing, I hope you’ll share what that was through the contact form here. Enjoy!