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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. Who is Paul Drabble?

2. What is the name of Frances's second husband?

3. Tony Hogburn has tattoos of what?

4. As she drove to Tranquillum House, Frances reflected that she should have been traveling to what city?

5. How did Frances and Paul Drabble meet?

Short Essay Questions

1. What shocking change happened to Jessica and Ben prior to their coming on the retreat? How did the change affect them?

2. What does the reader learn about Zach's death in Chapter 26? Why does Napoleon blame himself?

3. Who is Paul Drabble and what does the reader learn about him in Chapter 8?

4. Once alone in her room for the first time, what does Frances discover?

5. What does the reader learn about Carmel's background in Chapter 21?

6. What does the reader learn about Heather in Chapter 10?

7. What is Ben concerned about his car as he arrives at Tranquillum House?

8. Who is the director of Tranquillum House? How has she been transformed?

9. Masha keeps receiving emails from which person? How does she respond?

10. Who is Masha and what happens to her in Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

An epigraph is a short quotation at the beginning of a book. The epigraph to this novel is a quote from Rumi: “You suppose that you are in trouble but you are the cure. You suppose that you are the lock in the door but you are the key that opens it.” How does the epigraph reflect the lives of the characters? How does the epigraph reflect the novel’s themes?

Essay Topic 2

Morality (or the lack thereof) plays a big role in the lives of the main characters. Discuss three characters who act according to their own internal sense of morality. Are their actions moral in the eyes of the majority? What are the consequences of their moral (or not-so-moral) behavior?

Essay Topic 3

Who is Paul Drabble and what role does he play in Frances’s development? How would her development change (or not) had Drabble not been included in the story?

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