Story Circle Network
Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide

December 2002

Borrowed Finery

Borrowed Finery
by Paula Fox

Newberry Award-winning novelist Fox (A Servant's Tale) lived a rather accidental, devastating childhood. Her Jazz Age parents dropped her at an orphanage shortly after her birth in 1923, from which she was rescued by a kindly clergyman and passed along, as in a "fire brigade," to various "rescuers" odd relatives or her parents' drinking buddies, mostly. Her scriptwriter daddy, a happy drunk, cared but was careless. Mom, on the other hand, with her "cold radiant smile," was openly rejecting....

Read an interesting piece on Paula Fox here. Read several reviews of Borrowed Finery here.

  1. What is the significance of the title of this book?

  2. Paula lived with a lot of different people during her childhood. What did each give or teach her? How did each gift or lesson rescue her (or did it?)?

  3. Paula moved frequently and was exposed to many different people and places. How did this affect her - positively and negatively?

  4. Not surprisingly, given her upbringing, Paula was a fearful child. List some of her fears. Did you have any such fears when you were a young girl?

  5. Did you like or dislike this book? Why or why not?

    (The following questions were taken from The Oregonian)

  6. Borrowed Finery is written in an episodic, elliptical style that leaves out as much as it includes. How does this style differ from that of a conventional autobiography?

  7. Paula Fox is careful not to draw conclusions or attribute motives to others. She does not, for example, explain why her mother rejected her. Did this leave you wanting to know more about the people in her life?

  8. Fox is an acclaimed children's book writer, and most of Borrowed Finery is about her childhood. How did her experiences help her become a writer? How might writing children's books have helped her understand her own unusual upbringing?

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