Discussion question your group will work through:
1.Rivers begins the novel with the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., an event of almost unimaginable horror. What details does she include that made the loss feel most real to you? What was your emotional response to Hadassah's situation at the story's opening?
$24.99 for the full 13-week guide·7-day refund·One purchase, whole group
About This Study Guide
A Voice in the Wind is the first novel in Francine Rivers's beloved Mark of the Lion trilogy, set against the backdrop of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. Through the story of Hadassah — a young Jewish slave girl who is one of the few survivors of the fall of Jerusalem — Rivers weaves a sweeping narrative about faith tested to its absolute limits. Hadassah is purchased into the wealthy Valerian household in Rome, where she serves the beautiful, restless Julia and quietly loves the conflicted Marcus Valerian. Around her swirl gladiators, courtesans, merchants, and philosophers — all searching for meaning in a world of power, pleasure, and violence. The novel's central argument is that the kingdom of God cannot be hidden, that the love and truth of Christ press outward even through the most trembling and frightened vessel, and that faith is not the absence of fear but the choice to trust God in the midst of it.
This study guide is designed for use in a small group or for individual devotional study over thirteen weeks. Each week, read the assigned section of the novel before your group meets (or before you sit down to journal). Then work through the discussion questions — some will ask what happened in the story, some will ask you to examine your own heart, and some will push you to think theologically about what Rivers is showing us. You do not need to be a biblical scholar to benefit from these questions; you only need to be honest. If you are studying alone, consider writing your answers in a journal before reading on.
By the time you finish this guide, you will have traced Hadassah's journey from the ruins of Jerusalem to the sands of the Roman arena, and you will have sat with hard questions about suffering, silence, idolatry, love, and courage. More than that, you will have been invited — repeatedly — to ask yourself where you are in the story. Are you Hadassah, knowing the truth but afraid to speak it? Are you Marcus, drawn toward the light but unwilling to pay the cost? Are you Julia, filling every hollow place with the next beautiful thing? Rivers does not let her readers stay comfortable, and neither does this guide. Come ready to be challenged and, ultimately, changed.
13-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — Jerusalem in Flames7 questions
- Week 2The Valerian Household — A World of Wealth and Emptiness8 questions
- Week 3Julia — Beauty, Desire, and the Idol of Self7 questions
- Week 4Marcus — The Man Who Knows and Resists7 questions
- Week 5Atretes — The Gladiator and the Illusion of Freedom7 questions
- Week 6Hadassah's Silence — The Witness of a Hidden Life7 questions
- Week 7Roman Religion and the Hunger for the True God7 questions
- Week 8Love, Power, and the Cost of Faithfulness7 questions
- Week 9The Underground Church — Faith in the Shadows7 questions
- Week 10Persecution and the Price of the Name7 questions
- Week 11The Arena — Where All Pretense Is Stripped Away7 questions
- Week 12Aftermath — What the Witness Leaves Behind7 questions
- Week 13Review & Reflection — What the Story Has Done to You8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — Jerusalem in Flames
Free sampleRead the opening chapters of A Voice in the Wind (the fall of Jerusalem sequence). Primary Scripture background: Luke 21:20-24; Lamentations 1:1-12.
1.Rivers begins the novel with the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., an event of almost unimaginable horror. What details does she include that made the loss feel most real to you? What was your emotional response to Hadassah's situation at the story's opening?
2.Hadassah watches her family die one by one — her father, her mother, her siblings — and she survives almost by accident. Her father had been a devoted follower of Jesus who shaped her entire understanding of God. What does she carry from him into her captivity, and what does she seem to have lost?
3.Even at the outset, Hadassah's faith is fragile and terrified rather than triumphant. How does this portrayal challenge or confirm your own assumptions about what strong faith looks like?
a.Have you ever experienced a season where your faith felt more like embers than a flame? What kept it alive?
b.Rivers seems to argue that survival itself can be a form of calling. Do you agree?
4.The destruction of Jerusalem was, for first-century Jews, the unthinkable — the end of the Temple, the center of their entire religious world. How does this historical backdrop help you understand Hadassah's internal silence about her faith throughout much of the novel?
5.Hadassah is sold into slavery — a complete loss of agency and identity in the eyes of Roman society. What does it mean, theologically, to still be 'God's own' when the world has stripped away every external marker of identity and worth?
6.Rivers was clearly shaped by the book of Lamentations in crafting Jerusalem's fall. Read Lamentations 1:1-3 aloud in your group. Where do you see echoes of that lament in Hadassah's interior life? How does lament function as an act of faith rather than a failure of it?
7.The novel is set in a world where power belongs to Rome and weakness belongs to slaves. How does Rivers begin, from the very first pages, to invert that hierarchy — showing us where true power and true poverty actually reside?
Week 2: The Valerian Household — A World of Wealth and Emptiness
Read the chapters introducing the Valerian family — Decimus, Phoebe, Marcus, and Julia — in Rome. Background Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11; Colossians 3:1-5.
1.Describe the Valerian family as Rivers introduces them. What are the defining characteristics of Decimus, Phoebe, Marcus, and Julia? What does each one seem to be searching for, even if they couldn't name it?
Week 3: Julia — Beauty, Desire, and the Idol of Self
Read the chapters focused on Julia's character, relationships, and growing restlessness. Background Scripture: Romans 1:21-25; Proverbs 14:12.
1.How would you describe Julia's core wound or her deepest desire at this stage of the novel? What does she most want, and why does she keep looking for it in the wrong places?
Week 4: Marcus — The Man Who Knows and Resists
Read the chapters that develop Marcus's character, his philosophical searching, and his growing awareness of Hadassah. Background Scripture: John 3:19-21; Acts 17:22-28.
1.Marcus is a student of philosophy — he has engaged Stoicism, Epicureanism, and various other schools of thought. What has each of these given him, and what has each left him lacking? How does Rivers use his philosophical background to sharpen the reader's understanding of what the gospel uniquely offers?
Week 5: Atretes — The Gladiator and the Illusion of Freedom
Read the chapters introducing and developing Atretes, the Germanic warrior turned gladiator. Background Scripture: Romans 6:15-23; Galatians 5:1.
1.How does Rivers introduce Atretes? What is his backstory, and how does his capture and enslavement as a gladiator shape his inner life? What does he rage against, and what does he long for?
Week 6: Hadassah's Silence — The Witness of a Hidden Life
Read the chapters focusing on Hadassah's internal struggle between her faith and her fear in the Valerian household. Background Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16; 1 Peter 3:15-16.
1.Hadassah knows the truth about Jesus, and the people she serves are spiritually dying, but she keeps her faith largely hidden for much of the novel. What are the specific reasons — fear, love, uncertainty, trauma — that contribute to her silence? Which of these reasons do you find most understandable?
Week 7: Roman Religion and the Hunger for the True God
Read the chapters exploring Roman religious practice — the temples, the mystery cults, the household gods — and Hadassah's navigation of them. Background Scripture: Acts 17:16-34; Isaiah 44:9-20.
1.How does Rivers portray Roman religious practice? What were its most prominent features — the pantheon of gods, the temple rituals, the mystery cults — and what genuine human needs did each of these attempt to meet?
Week 8: Love, Power, and the Cost of Faithfulness
Read the chapters developing the relationship between Hadassah and Marcus, and the growing danger of Hadassah's position. Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; John 15:13.
1.How would you describe the relationship between Marcus and Hadassah at this point in the novel? Is it friendship, spiritual mentorship, romance, or something that doesn't fit a neat category? How does their difference in social status shape every interaction they have?
Week 9: The Underground Church — Faith in the Shadows
Read the chapters in which Hadassah encounters fellow Christians in Rome and begins to connect with the early church community. Background Scripture: Acts 2:42-47; Hebrews 10:24-25.
1.What is Hadassah's reaction when she first connects with other believers in Rome? What has her isolation cost her spiritually, and what does community begin to restore?
Week 10: Persecution and the Price of the Name
Read the chapters depicting the Roman persecution of Christians and the rising danger for Hadassah. Background Scripture: 1 Peter 4:12-19; Revelation 2:10.
1.How does Rivers depict the Roman persecution of Christians? What specific mechanisms of oppression does she portray, and how does she humanize the people subjected to them — refusing to reduce them to abstract martyrs?
Week 11: The Arena — Where All Pretense Is Stripped Away
Read the climactic arena chapters and Hadassah's final public witness. Background Scripture: Philippians 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 4:6-8.
1.Without spoiling every detail for those reading slowly: the arena sequence is the novel's climax. How does Rivers build toward this moment across the entire story? What has each character's arc been preparing them for in this scene?
Week 12: Aftermath — What the Witness Leaves Behind
Read the closing chapters of A Voice in the Wind, tracing the aftermath of the arena for Marcus, Atretes, and others. Background Scripture: John 12:24; Hebrews 11:32-40.
1.How are Marcus and Atretes changed — or beginning to be changed — by what they have witnessed? What specific shift do you see in each of them by the novel's end, and where does each character's arc seem to be heading?
Week 13: Review & Reflection — What the Story Has Done to You
Review your notes, journals, and highlights from all previous weeks. Optionally re-read any chapter or passage that was especially significant to you.
1.Looking back across the full novel, which character did you find yourself most identifying with at the beginning — and did that identification shift by the end? What does that shift (or lack of it) tell you about your own spiritual state?
Why You Can Trust This
What You Get, and Our Promise
Here's exactly what's in every guide — and what happens if it falls short.
What's in every guide
- 9 sections per guide: overview, chapter summaries, discussion questions, key themes, important quotes, thematic analysis, character profiles, timeline, and practice review
- Multi-week format with a closing prayer for each session
- PDF download + permanent web link — keep it forever, share with your entire group
- Delivered to your inbox in about 5 minutes
- One purchase covers the whole group — no per-seat fees, no subscription
7-day money-back guarantee
If the guide doesn't meet your expectations, email support@bookstudyguide.com within 7 days and we'll refund you in full. No forms, no questions. Keep the guide either way.
A note from the founder: I'm Josh, and I built this because most Christian books don't come with study materials — leaving volunteer leaders to build discussion questions from scratch on a Saturday night. That shouldn't be the default. If anything about your guide isn't right, reply to your order email and it comes straight to me.
The free Week 1 sample for A Voice in the Wind is above. Get the full 13-week guide for $24.99 when you're ready.
Get the A Voice in the Wind GuideSkip Saturday-night question writing
13 weeks of discussion questions, reading schedule, closing prayers, and a downloadable PDF — built specifically for A Voice in the Wind, ready in 5 minutes.
- All 93 discussion questions organized by week
- Weekly reading schedule and orientation
- Closing prayers for each session
- Final review and reflection week
- Downloadable PDF to print and share
What you're trading
4+ hours writing your own
Plus the weekly anxiety of “what should we discuss this week?”
$24.99, once
Less than two coffees. Covers your whole group, the whole study.
Continues to secure Stripe checkout. $24.99 one-time, no subscription, 7-day refund.
Related Study Guides
If your group enjoys A Voice in the Wind, these studies pair well with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many weeks is the A Voice in the Wind study guide?
This study guide covers A Voice in the Wind in 13 weeks, with chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, reading references, and closing prayers for each session.
How many discussion questions are included?
The complete guide includes 93 discussion questions across 13 weeks — an average of 7 questions per week, designed for group conversation.
Can I use this guide for a book club?
Yes — the questions are written for group discussion and work well for small groups, book clubs, church studies, and couples reading together.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Any published book — not just bestsellers that have existing curriculum. Whether your group is reading a classic like Mere Christianity or a newer title without a published study guide, we can create a complete discussion guide for it.
Most guides are ready within 5 minutes. We'll email you the link as soon as your guide is complete, and you'll have permanent access from that point forward.
Every guide includes 9 sections: a book overview, chapter-by-chapter summaries, key themes and concepts, important quotes with context and analysis, discussion questions for group conversation, thematic analysis, character and figure profiles, a chronological timeline, and a practice review with model answers.
Yes. One purchase gives you a permanent web link and a downloadable PDF. Share either with your entire group — there's no per-person fee or seat limit.
No. Enter the book title, author, and your email address, complete the $24.99 payment, and your guide arrives in your inbox. No account, no login, no subscription.
We offer a 7-day money-back guarantee. If the guide doesn't meet your expectations, email support@bookstudyguide.com for a full refund.
Free discussion questions online tend to be surface-level — "What did you think of chapter 3?" Our guides include questions designed to spark real conversation: questions that connect the book's ideas to personal experience, draw out different perspectives, and help group members open up and share honestly.
Still have questions? Email support@bookstudyguide.com
Get Your Guide