Discussion Questions for The Bicycle Messenger
Aug 15, 2025
Please pray for all those who have been impacted by flash flooding in southeastern Wisconsin and for everyone involved in the recovery effort.
We had a wonderful time launching The Bicycle Messenger at the Village Cheese Shop here in Wauwatosa on August 3. If you’ve found time to open the book in these last days of summer, THANK YOU! If you are considering reading The Bicycle Messenger with your book club, I’ve compiled a few questions that might help guide your discussion.
Reading Group Discussion Questions for The Bicycle Messenger
1. The story is narrated by three people: Steven’s adoptive mother Mary Ellen, his girlfriend Megan, and his sister Margaret. Which of these characters did you identify with the most? Did any of them frustrate you with her actions or her omissions?
2. At the beginning of the story, Mary Ellen keeps her bank account secret from her husband. Later, Megan keeps her own plans secret from Steven. Is it ever appropriate to keep secrets? How does a lack of candor distort the relationships between the characters?
3. The Holocaust represents an extreme case of xenophobia, or the hatred of strangers. Fear of mental illness in others could also be considered xenophobia. Do you see this fear playing out in Steven’s relationships? Did your view of Beatrycze, Steven’s birth mother, change over the course of your reading?
4. How are we called to accompany people dealing with mental illness and/or past trauma? Which characters best exemplify a compassionate response?
5. Three different characters are faced with unexpected pregnancy in the story, and each one makes, or at least contemplates, a different decision. How do the other characters support or hinder them in choosing life for their children? Can you imagine ways to more effectively empower women to choose life, whatever their circumstances?
6. Near the end of her life, Mary Ellen tells Margaret that “The only trouble [with adoption] is, in order for you to receive a child, some other poor woman has to let one go.” What are your experiences surrounding adoption? How have our attitudes and practices regarding adoption changed over the years?
7. Have you ever experienced estrangement from family or friends? If you were able to resolve it, how did it happen?
8. As a child, Steven is fascinated with the family’s grandfather clock. Later, Mary Ellen refers to the cycles of Steven’s mental illness as the “seven-year dread.” How is time addressed in the novel? What portents or healings do you see playing out? Have you ever had the opportunity to right a past wrong or console an old hurt?
9. Margaret rescues Steven’s mementoes when he suffers a manic episode. “In Margaret’s mind, keeping the book and the shoebox herself was an act of conservation, even a bulwark against his delusions.” Most families have one person who organizes events, memorabilia, and family stories. Who is that person in your family, and how did they get this role? Does it weigh lightly or heavily on them?
10. The story’s dénouement turns on an act of reading. Are there any books, letters, or newspaper articles that have brought healing or understanding into your life?
If other questions occur to you as you are reading, please share them in the comments! I’d love to hear what resonates and what sparks the liveliest discussions. Most of all, thank you for reading and sharing the book. It means the world to me.
Joan Elizabeth Bauer 