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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The coroner tells Allie and the deputy that Maggie clearly died of what?

2. What does Cam pray God will send him?

3. Why does Allie offer for Mia to spend that night at her house the first day they meet?

4. What does the woman say to the husband before she takes her money box and walks down the street?

5. Why was Mia lonely during her childhood?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Cam realize as he is saying the rosary at church?

2. Why does the woman wrap the stained glass panel in newspaper and hide it behind the toilet?

3. Why does Angus McDonald leave Scotland and move to Wheelock?

4. What is Mia's strongest childhood memory?

5. Why does Cam secretly hire a lawyer for Jamie?

6. What does Angus tell Cam when Cam asks if he could stay in Carrymuir while Angus goes back to Wheelock and becomes clan chief?

7. Why does Graham's excitement about Jamie's case diminish after he talks to Jamie?

8. Why does Allie envy Maggie?

9. What kind of wife is Allie to Cam?

10. What does the reader sense about Cam's feelings for Mia after they are introduced in his kitchen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How did Allie and Cam evolve as characters from the beginning of the novel to the end?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss what Jamie does for a living and how Picoult used his work to illuminate both characters and themes. How does his work impact what happens between Jamie and Maggie?

Essay Topic 3

How is Mercy a story of the tests that challenge people every day and the mistakes that define a life?

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