View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which literary character does Nathaniel hear might be based on Arthur McCash later in his life?
(a) James Bond.
(b) John La Carre.
(c) Simon Boulderstone.
(d) Sam Spade.

2. Who do Nathaniel and his sister find in their house in London when they arrive after running away from school?
(a) The Darter and The Hand.
(b) The Darter and The Hen.
(c) The Moth and The Darter.
(d) The Moth and The Hen.

3. What is The Darter's real name?
(a) Norman Marshall.
(b) Arthur McCash.
(c) Marsh Felon.
(d) Sam Malakite.

4. What does Nathaniel's sister show him that casts doubt on their mother's whereabouts in the section titled "Hell-Fire"?
(a) She finds a letter from their mother to The Moth saying she is in Italy.
(b) She finds a letter from their father telling them not to trust their mother.
(c) She finds their mother's passport tucked in a drawer.
(d) She finds their mother's steamer trunk stowed in the basement of their house.

5. What kind of job is Nathaniel offered at the Foreign Office?
(a) To translate for high-level agents.
(b) To do cartography work.
(c) To do top-secret spy work.
(d) To review files in the archives covering the war and post-war years.

6. Which book do Nathaniel and his sister imitate in tracking their mother across London before she leaves on her trip to Singapore?
(a) Madame Bovary.
(b) Great Expectations.
(c) The Last of The Mohicans.
(d) The Woman in White.

7. Where do Nathaniel and Agnes meet to have sex?
(a) Restaurant bathrooms.
(b) Nathaniel's house.
(c) Vacant houses Agnes's brother, an estate agent, has access to.
(d) Churches.

8. How does Nathaniel manage to escape from his pursuers in the underground?
(a) He does a spell to ward off the attackers.
(b) He runs very fast to get away.
(c) He knows the buttons and levers in the lift, so he kicked the brake up to start the lift moving again and escaped.
(d) He has his pocket knife with him and stabs one of the men.

9. What does the man Nathaniel knows as The Darter seem most interested in in his conversations with The Moth?
(a) Bird-watching.
(b) Racing dogs.
(c) Cards.
(d) Weapons.

10. What wisdom does Olive Lawrence murmur to Nathaniel that comes back to him as an adult?
(a) The self is not the principal thing.
(b) We need other people to fill in what we can not remember ourselves.
(c) Forgive your parents their sins, for you do not know what they have suffered.
(d) The past is a foreign country.

11. Which of the men whose care Nathaniel and Rachel are left in does Rachel prefer?
(a) The Darter.
(b) Arthur McCash.
(c) The Moth.
(d) Marsh Felon.

12. Why does Nathaniel really not want Agnes to meet his parents?
(a) He feels Agnes is not really attractive.
(b) Agnes is working-class and that embarrasses him.
(c) Agnes is too young.
(d) They are out of the country and he does not even know where they are.

13. Who does Nathaniel tell about what happens to him in the underground that scares him?
(a) The Moth.
(b) His mother.
(c) Rachel.
(d) The Darter.

14. Where did Nathaniel's mother grow up?
(a) Suffolk.
(b) Cornwall.
(c) The Cotswolds.
(d) Corning.

15. Which illness does Rachel develop as a child?
(a) Cystic Fibrosis.
(b) Diabetes.
(c) Epilepsy.
(d) Asthma.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of part-time job does Rachel get in the section titled "The Mussel Boat"?

2. What nighttime activity do Nathaniel and Rachel partake of with Olive Lawrence?

3. What song does The Darter habitually hum as he and Nathaniel travel on the barge?

4. Where does Nathaniel start his first paying job?

5. What story does The Moth tell Nathaniel about his mother during the war in the section titled "A Table Full of Strangers"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 691 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample