READING GROUP NOTES

The Persimmon Tree is unashamedly a love story. I've always wanted to write one but until now have been afraid to do so. The reason is simple enough: most men in my experience have very little idea of what really goes on in a woman's heart or head. Now, at the age of 74, I just might know enough and have sufficient courage to write on the subject - the way of a man with a woman, of a woman with a man.

My story is set in the Pacific, although not in the paradise we've always been led to believe exists there. It is 1942 in Java and the Japanese are invading the islands like a swarm of locusts.

I have tried to capture the essence of love - how in a world gone mad with malice and hate, it has the ability to forgive and to heal. As it is in this story, love is always hard earned but, in the end, a most wonderful and necessary emotion. Without love, life for most of us would lack true meaning.

Sincerely,
Bryce Courtenay

Reading Group Questions

1. The Persimmon Tree was conceived by Bryce Courtenay foremost as a love story. What makes the persimmon tree an evocative symbol for the love shared by Nick and Anna?
2. The novel opens in Batavia (Jakarta) on the cusp of the invasion of Japanese forces during World War II, and Dutch evacuation. What sort of backdrop does this create for new, young love, and its memory?
3. What event in the book do you think most changes the character of Nick Duncan from an awkward and mild-mannered butterfly collector to a celebrated, worldly war hero?
4. Born of a Javanese mother and Dutch father, Anna is forced to straddle two conflicting cultures. With which culture does she feel most at home?
5. Both Nick and Anna have troubled relationships with their fathers, and absent mothers. How do these factors influence the characters they are, and the paths they take?
6. When Nick risks his life to rescue Kevin Judge off the Javanese coast he could never have guessed it would be the start of a lifelong friendship. What makes their friendship so enduring?
7. While Nick’s war is spent in combat and on assignment, Anna’s war is spent in the service of the Japanese Colonel, Konoe-san. Their relationship is a complex one, but ultimately is Konoe-san more Anna’s abuser, captor, protector or friend?
8. Nick seems to revel in the strategy and battle fire of combat, and yet when on assignment to track and capture ‘the Goat’ – a troublesome, lone Japanese radio operator – he is moved by his opponent’s humanity and skills. What do we learn about war from this book?
9. During Nick’s time in Australia he seems to ricochet from the arms of one woman to the next, and yet he never gives up on his search for Anna; meanwhile, Anna determines to save herself for her one true love. It’s a double standard that reflects the novel’s historical setting – or not?
10. Nick and Anna do eventually climb aboard Madam Butterfly for a sunset sail of a very different kind, and we know Nick fulfils his promise to plant a persimmon seed each year to honour Anna’s birthday. But exactly how their lives unfold after boarding Madam Butterfly together isn’t revealed. Does Nick manage to rehabilitate Anna? Can Anna ever possibly live up to Nick’s memory of her after all she’s been through?