Death

Death is a dominating theme in "Behind the Scenes at the Museum." The main character, Ruby Lennox, deals with the deaths of many of her family members in this novel. At one point at her Uncle Ted's wedding, Ruby catches her father, George, having sex with a waitress in a television room. Before she can grasp what it is that she has just witnessed, her father dies of a heart attack in front of her. She is left with the waitress to tell her mother, Bunty, who has just stumbled in wondering where her husband is. Ruby never tells her mother what she has just walked in on, but the fact that her father's pants are still unzipped cannot be lost on her mother.

Later when Ruby's grandmother becomes too ill to care for herself, Ruby is forced to share a room with her eleven year old sister...