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

2. What does Cam tell Allie he would do if she murdered someone?

3. Who surprises Mia when she comes to the flower shop unannounced while Allie is out of town?

4. Where is Maggie buried?

5. What time is it when the husband drives up to his house and sees the woman sitting in the yard?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why did Ellen McDonald embrace New Age ideas after her husband's death eight years ago?

3. Why does Jamie dislike the prosecutor in his case?

4. In the opening of the novel, what does the woman do after her husband comes home to a house that has been emptied of his possessions?

5. What does Allie learn about Maggie's condition from her doctor?

6. What is Jamie's theory about marriage?

7. What surprising information does Cam learn from the private detective?

8. What important information does Maggie's best friend tell Allie?

9. What is significant about the first picnic Allie and Cam had together?

10. How did the Clan McDonald end up settling in Wheelock, Massachusetts?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the stained glass panel used as a symbol throughout the novel? Explain fully what it represents from the prologue to the end of the story.

Essay Topic 2

What are Cam's contradictory convictions and how does he struggle with them throughout the novel? Does he finally resolve them by the end of the story?

Essay Topic 3

What is the purpose of the second-person notes between the chapters? Who is the author and who are they intended for? What impact do they have on character development and themes of Mercy?

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This section contains 750 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample