The empress of ice cream

Reading Group Questions for The Empress of Ice Cream

1. The Editor’s Note says that the two stories, Louise’s and Carlo’s, might seem ‘odd companions’. Did you find that to be the case? How did their narratives differ?

2. Were you surprised to discover that ice cream was invented in England? Did you find the historical background more or less interesting than other historical novels you have read?

3. Louise has to choose between the honourable marriage her parents brought her up to believe in, and becoming the king’s mistress in order to achieve her political aims. Do you think she made the right choice?

4. Cold - and its opposite, warmth - are recurrent themes in the book. Who are the coldest characters, and who did you warm to?

5. Which characters changed most over the course of the novel? What made them change?

6. Were Carlo’s relationships with the women in his life fair and equal?

7. What drove Louise to make the decisions she did?

8. How do Louise’s views on status and success compare to those of Hannah?

9. What disruptions to class relations have taken place in post-civil war England, and how do Carlo’s ideas about who should be allowed to eat ice cream reflect these changes?

10. How strongly does food influence events in the novel?

11. The Empress of Ice Cream moves from Italy to Erance and then to England. How does the change in setting reflect in the changes in the characters’ lives?

12. Is Louise a character you can easily empathise with?

13. Did The Empress of Ice Cream end the way you expected it to?

14. How did you think the epigraph from Wallace Stevens related to the story?

15. Do you think Carlo will end up finding happiness?