The Quest for Anna Klein

The morning book group will discuss Thomas H. Cook's novel The Quest for Anna Klein on Friday, September 7 at 10:30 a.m. Shortly after 9/11, Thomas Danforth requests a young member of a Washington think tank to interview him at his New York club about his involvement in "The Project", a 1939 conspiracy against the Nazis. Assassination attempts on Hitler and the Armenian genocide are both important historical topics in The Quest for Anna Klein.

Kirkus Reviews called The Quest for Anna Klein "a labyrinth of deceit, a sure bestseller." Library Journal's review of the book calls Cook "a master of the box-within-a-box story, revealing more of character than crime" although Publishers Weekly described it as "thoughtful if less than inspired."

There are no official discussion questions, but here are some questions that occurred to me:

Who do you think was running The Project? The American government? Or was it one of the participants’ ideas?

Who is Laroche (the man who trains Anna at Winterset) and what happens to him?

Who is Bannion (the former Spanish loyalist and Communist) and what happens to him?

Did Anna love Danforth or not? What was her relationship to Rache?

Who is Kulli Demir? Does the information about him on pages 166 and 341 seem contradictory to you?

What do we know about Anna’s childhood by the end of the book? Why did Anna and her mother flee (p343)? Was Anna Jewish? What is the meaning of the necklace at the end of the book?

How would you describe the author's writing style? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?