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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Reta, what can "help us turn down the volume of our own interior discourse"?
(a) Novels.
(b) Nature.
(c) Work.
(d) Family.

2. Who is Dennis Ford-Halpern?
(a) Norah's psychiatrist.
(b) The author of "The Goodness Gap."
(c) Reta's writing teacher.
(d) A television host.

3. What does Natalie remind her family about how long Norah has been wearing her garden gloves?
(a) That Norah has been wearing them since the previous spring.
(b) That Norah has been wearing them since the previous winter.
(c) That Norah has been wearing them since the previous fall.
(d) That Norah has been wearing them since the previous summer.

4. What is Norah doing when Reta first sees her in the hospital?
(a) Eating.
(b) Praying.
(c) Reading.
(d) Sleeping.

5. In what month does Reta write her letter to Ford-Halpern?
(a) October.
(b) August.
(c) December.
(d) March.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Reta notice on Norah's wrists?

2. Whose wedding is Reta worried about?

3. What does Norah use to try and put out the flames from the woman's fire?

4. What does Reta remember about Tom's childhood as they walk in the cemetery?

5. In her letter about the obituary in the Globe and Mail, what does Reta state she has missed out on?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Lois's conversation with Arthur when she comes over to investigate about dinner significant?

2. Describe Reta and Lois's relationship.

3. How do the meetings with her friends at the Orange Blossom Room ground Reta in reality?

4. What rationale does Reta offer about the importance of novels despite moral injustice in the world?

5. Why don't the Winters' want to discuss the fact that Norah probably gave her Christmas package away?

6. Why does Reta feel that Arthur's suggestion to focus on Roman instead of Alicia is an egregious one?

7. When Reta and Tom consult a psychiatrist about Norah, what does he tell them and how do they respond?

8. How does Emma, Reta's journalist friend, try to comfort her and how is it significant?

9. What is Reta's impression of Arthur Springer when she finally meets him at her home in January and how do they get into a heated discussion?

10. In her letter about the death of Peter Harding, how does Reta compare herself to Norah?

(see the answer keys)

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