Little Apples Grow Book Club Questions: Spoiler Free and Printable

Updated 13 November 2026 · 4 minute read · By Kadie Vellis

Quick answer: Fourteen book club questions for Little Apples Grow by Kadie Vellis, all spoiler free, ready to print. Questions about the ending are never posted online. Message us and we will send them to your group, free.

A carer moves into a crumbling house in Highgate to look after Vi Driscoll, the dying matriarch of a feared East End family. Every night Vi tells her another story. Rosie has her own reasons for being there, and kindness isn’t one of them.

That is a lot for a book club to get its teeth into. These questions are written so that nobody’s surprise is spoiled, even if half the room is still on chapter thirty. Pick eight or ten, and keep the kettle on.

Rosie, Vi and the family

The book opens in 1962 with Vi cutting off her hair at Frankie’s table, before we ever meet Rosie. How did that opening change the way you saw Vi when you first met her as an old woman in the four-poster?
Rosie walks into Ashcombe House with secrets of her own. When did you first sense she wasn’t telling the whole truth, and did that make you trust her more or less?
Every night Rosie brushes out Vi’s plait, a hundred strokes, while Vi counts. What does that ritual mean to each of them?
“I’ve buried prettier girls than you.” Funny, cruel or both? Did you like Vi, and did that change as the book went on?
Dessie is charming, generous and always making his mum’s tea. Ray is frightening from the moment he walks in dripping on the rug. Which brother did you trust at the start, and why?
Nora has been in the house for forty-eight years and seems to know everything. What do you make of her loyalty?

The past and the house

Little apples grow is an old saying: what goes around comes around. Which characters are waiting for something to come back round to them?
Vi’s chapters run from the 1960s to the present. Which of her stories has stayed with you most?
The seventh stair, the locked third door, the rose bed under the window. Which part of Ashcombe House would you least want to be alone in at night?
Marnie has gone before the book begins, yet she’s everywhere. What did her coat, her hairbrush and her phone add to the tension?

The bigger questions

The book never pretends Vi is good. How much did knowing what Frankie did to her change how you judged what she did later?
Vi says, “Women see everything, darling. Nobody ever thinks to ask us.” Where in the book did you see that play out?
Rosie has had a hard life: her dad, her mum, Lee, Kenny. Did her past excuse anything she did in that house?
If you had been Rosie on that first night, with the door handle turning at 3am, would you have stayed?

Finished the book?

The best book club conversations are about the ending. To keep it a surprise for everyone else, the questions about the ending are never posted anywhere online.

If your group has finished, send a message through the contact page with your book club’s name, and we will email you the After You’ve Finished question sheet. It is completely free.

A little food for the evening: port and lemon, Vi’s drink at the Green Man, and apple cake for the table. For more ideas, see our list of thriller book club books for 2027, and our book club questions for any thriller.

Your questions answered

Is Little Apples Grow good for a book club?

Yes. It is about revenge, family and what we owe the people who raised us, and every chapter gives a group something to argue about. It does include scenes of domestic abuse, so check your group is comfortable first.

Do these questions contain spoilers?

No. Every question on this page is safe to use even if someone in your group hasn’t finished the book.

Can I get questions about the ending?

Yes. To keep the ending a surprise, those questions are never posted online. Send a message with your book club’s name and we will email you the After You’ve Finished sheet, free.

How long is Little Apples Grow?

378 pages, so allow a month for most groups.

Is there a content note?

Yes. The book contains scenes of domestic abuse, including sexual coercion and degradation; child abuse; violence and torture; murder; poisoning; drug addiction and overdose; and the death of a parent.

When is Little Apples Grow out?

1 December 2026, just in time for groups choosing their January read.