One Came Home Theme of Mortality

It just makes sense that death, called here by its fancier name, mortality, would be a big deal in a book where most of the plot involves the supposed death of the main character's sister and said main character's attempt to come to terms with that by essentially going on a road trip, 19th-century style. However, Agatha's alleged death isn't the only place this theme comes up in One Came Home.

Georgie starts out by contemplating the permanence of death, which leads her to question her position on hunting and killing animals. And this leads her to question her right to end any life, even if she thinks someone "deserves" it. Eventually she concludes that she doesn't want to be part of ending life, perhaps because she has dealt with Agatha's disappearance, Grandfather Bolte's death, and the deaths of many fire victims. It's a lot, and whether she sticks with it long term or not, we totally get why she wants a break.

1. As a reader, did you believe Agatha was dead from the beginning? Did you ever doubt that she was dead and that this would be a story about Georgie's acceptance of her sister's death?
2. What effect, if any, does the revelation that Agatha is in fact alive have on Georgie's eventual conclusions about death?
3. Just when we think the story's over, victims of the fires appear in Placid. How do the experiences Georgie has while searching for Agatha affect her feelings about the death all around her?
4. Agatha's alleged death at the beginning of the novel is mirrored by Grandfather Bolte's actual death at the end. How are Georgie's feelings about these deaths similar and different?

While Georgie's trip to Dog Hollow appears to be a means for her to accept Agatha's death, in fact it is a journey on which she learns to accept death itself.

The false death of Agatha at the beginning of the novel prepares Georgie to deal with the body count at the end.