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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 does Colman call the morning he leaves for Glasgow from London?

2. Where does Colman Moody live?

3. What is Colman's preferred alcoholic drink?

4. What sound startles Maggie on her third visit to the Moody house?

5. How much money has Colman been offered as an advance on the book he works on with Sophie?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Colman think is the first thing he would ask his father Joss Moody if he had the opportunity to ask him one thing again?

2. Why does Colman get up and follow a man, another passenger, on the train to Glasgow?

3. What does Maggie tell Sophie Stones that Sophie is delighted with?

4. How does Big Red McCall react when Sophie Stones calls him to ask him about Joss Moody?

5. What is Colman Moody's own flat in London like?

6. What does Sophie Stones Tell Colman about Joss that shocks him on page 143?

7. What does Colman think about the relationship he had with Joss just before Joss died?

8. How does Colman Moody feel during his train journey from London to Glasgow to meet Sophie Stones?

9. What is the first thing Millie Moody asked the cleaner Maggie when she began working for the Moodys?

10. What does Sophie admit that she spends too much of her money on?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of the novel, Colman and Millie are about to meet face-to-face for the first time since Colman found out that his father Joss was born as a woman. Given all that has transpired in the novel to this point, write an essay predicting what you think may transpire during this meeting. Will Colman and his mother be able to find mutual forgiveness and forge a path towards a peaceful relationship?

Essay Topic 2

Colman Moody, Joss and Millie's son, carries resentments and hurt feelings towards both of his parents even before he discovers the shocking secret about his father's gender identity that they have kept from him. Write an essay exploring the origins and reasons for Joss's resentments towards his parents that predate his discovery of Joss's secret.

Essay Topic 3

The funeral director, Albert Holding, handles the fact of Joss Moody's gender quite awkwardly, and his actions set the rest of the story's action and suspense in motion. Write an essay exploring the nuances of Holding's reaction and consider how the action of the novel might have been different if he had handled the disclosure of Joss Moody's gender to Colman Moody differently.

(see the answer keys)

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