Reading Group Guide for Birthright — A Near-Future Novel

Hosting a book club or discussion circle?

Explore the ethical, emotional, and societal questions at the heart of Birthright with our official reading guide.

It offers thought-provoking prompts for sparking rich conversations about autonomy, identity, and what it means to be truly human. Look no further than the list below — just watch out for the spoilers!

Haven’t read the book yet? See what other readers are saying about the Birthright on Goodreads.

Questions (Spoiler Alert!)

1| Are Regulars truly human? 

2| Grace shows more curiosity than her peers. What do you think drives this? Are Regulars less curious, or is it just a unique personality trait?

3| “Her world had given her everything. And yet, the warmth of Rita’s kitchen, the grit in Tom’s voice, the scratch of ivy against an NBD window, they had marked her more deeply than any bio-optimized fruit ever could.”

  • What could Tom’s family and way of life give Grace that the Center never could? Is there anything from the Center that Tom’s family cannot give her?

  • What practice from the Regulars would you want to bring into our world?

4| What is a good citizen? What do you trade off to be a good citizen?

5| Who should decide what kind of life is worth creating? Who gets to decide the terms on which civilization shapes itself?

6| “Young lady, this is about more than your love for my brother... You are the best hope Natural-Born in this country have. Don’t be selfish and …” — “I’m not selfish! I care about Tom.” 

  • How does Grace’s sense of her individualism and the greater good develop throughout the book? How does her identity compare to Mel’s, Tom’s, Adam’s, or Rita’s?

  • When society claims to act for the greater good, what happens to individual freedom?

7| How do Grace’s experiences in NBD1 influence her world view? How does her upbringing at the Center shape her?

8| How does Birthright disrupt or reinforce the concept of family?

9| “...And our child would be disadvantaged from the moment it was born.” — “You don’t know that!” — “I know that. Science knows that. Everyone knows.” — “You don’t know. You think. The government thinks. Science thinks. All of them are limited by today’s state of knowledge.” 

  • Do you agree with Tom? Or should Science get the final word?

  • Why does Grace change her mind about having the baby?

  • What forms the glue of Tom and Grace’s relationship?  

10| “Why would a Natural-Born fight for ending that way of life? What could possibly have happened to him?” What are your thoughts on Natural Borns wanting to end natural birth?

11| “I want to make the party see further than it ever has, which requires more unconventional thinking than I can currently access in the party.” How would you envision the first Regular to succeed the Minister? How would they be different?

12| How could Adam and the Minister come to differ so greatly in their visions for how to design a “flawless society”?

13| How would you vote in the 2096 referendum? What would you never compromise on, and what would question your assumptions?

This reading group guide was created by Rosalee Edwards.