A couple of book groups have now read An Invisible Woman in Afghanistan (hooray!) so with a lot of help from Suzzy Canny who has expertly led many such groups I came up with a few questions to add to the discussion. (If you want to print them out, there’s a PDF link below.)

1. Cat MacGregor leads an average, quiet American office worker’s life before gaining her superpowers. How do we see her ordinary invisibility before she is given the power of Invisibility?
2. The character of Dr. Sarmina is based on Dr. Sima Samar, an Afghan physician, activist, and human rights advocate. In 1984, she fled from the occupying Soviet forces in Afghanistan to Pakistan where she established the Shuhada Organization to provide health care to Afghan refugee women and girls in Quetta. She returned to Afghanistan in 2002 to become the first Minister of Women’s Affairs and is now the Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. After reading this book, has your perspective on Afghan women changed? In what ways?
3. At one critical point, Lt. Col. Jack Wallace has to choose between pursuing Osama Bin Laden and protecting the people he cares about. Does he make the right choice? Why?
4. The Taliban Commander ruthlessly destroys the ancient artifacts of Afghanistan yet he spares Humera’s life and cares deeply about the people of Kabul. Did his actions surprise you? Were there other aspects of Afghan culture in the book that you didn’t know about?
5. The goddess chooses Jack for certain reasons. What strengths does he have that help Cat? What are his weaknesses and how does Cat help him?
6. In their 2016 Annual Letter, Bill and Melinda Gates discussed “Two Superpowers We Wish We Had.” They picked Energy (Bill) and Time (Melinda). The goddess gives Cat MacGregor both Invisibility and the ability to Shift in order to protect one very important person. What superpowers would you like to have to help save the world?

An Invisible Woman in Afghanistan is available in both trade paperback and e-book formats at Amazon.com.

To download the questions in a 1 page printable PDF just use this link: Book_Group_Questions_for_An_Invisible_Woman_in_Afghanistan