More questions than answers

This month’s story is full of questions of various sorts being posed. Some have answers, and some don’t. In F.A.Q.s by Allegra Goodman, Phoebe goes home to stay with her parents, Melanie and Dan, to recover from a broken relationship. The questions help to frame the story and demonstrate the relationships between the three main characters. As always, you’ll get most out of this masterclass if you read the story for yourself: writ.rs/faqs

The first question in the story is a fairly inconsequential one on the surface, but it sets the scene for some of the themes to come. Phoebe asks her parents where their new coffee maker came from. An innocent question. But what is important about it is that the coffeemaker is taking up the space where Phoebe had previously persuaded her parents to have a food composting bucket. Phoebe’s attempts to get her parents to be more environmentally aware will run through the story.