View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the physician in charge of Angela’s hospital care?

2. On what street does Gideon seek his uncle?

3. At what price does Esther Tull value the object Strythe means to offer up for a charity auction?

4. On what street is Devlin’s?

5. At what number is Neuilly’s dwelling?

Short Essay Questions

1. What explanation is given for calling Gideon’s uncle “Old Nelly” (31)?

2. What reasons does Gideon give for thinking the murder of Esther Tull’s sister more than a botched burglary?

3. What comment does Angela’s landlady make about men doing harm (180)?

4. What threat does Octavia’s editor levy at her when she confronts him in his club?

5. What observation about teeth does Cutter make in reference to the slaughter of the St. Johns?

6. Generally, how is the church described in which Gideon spends his first night in London?

7. What reason does Octavia give for seeking out her editor rather than his deputy?

8. Why is Gideon commended to the care of the groundskeeper at his boyhood school?

9. Why does Esther Tull note feeling called to prayer?

10. What remarks does Cutter’s landlady make regarding Gideon’s appearance as a sergeant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Typically, an epigraph is expected to speak to or set the tone for the work it introduces. Do the epigraphs of The House on Vesper Sands do so for the present novel? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

Overall, what is the most important theme of The House on Vesper Sands. What in the text indicates as much? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

To what genre other than mystery might The House on Vesper Sands be considered to belong? What in the text supports that genre-identification, and how does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 574 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample