The fifth normblog Boxing Day literary quiz is a celebration of women novelists. There are 25 questions, each of which elicits the names of two writers. A few of the pairs are linked by a common first name. (Thus, for example, you might – though you don't – have the clue 'Jane sounded happy at the prospect of having to watch over them', to give you Jane Smiley and Jane Gardam.) More often the writers paired hide behind allusions to titles of their books. (So you could – though you don't – have the clue 'King of the castle in modern times', to yield Susan Hill and Linda Grant.) And sometimes the clue mixes one writer's name and a book by another writer.
1. She lost her earring in the bookshop.
2. Sounds like Barbara took a bit of a drink while trying to unlock the riddle of monarchy.
3. Both nice and good to a fault.
4. It threw its light upon the waters.
5. It's as if she found Richard Burton in Knutsford.
6. Were they homesick for Newfoundland?
7. A rose for the home.
8. Hard times in the family but not at the Priory.
9. Didn’t Anita make a fortune out of that hotel?
10. A Ghazzah Street in Jerusalem.
11. They were younger sisters (but not dotty).
12. Beloved pursuit.
13. After Esme disappeared the marriage was over.
14. As the mother said to her daughter, 'The damage they did in Troy was lasting.'
15. What was lost was a little boy.
16. Did Elizabeth really feed an olive to her tortoise?
17. She wrote fondly of Jane but not of Jane.
18. No theory unless based on praxis.
19. It sounds like you might put her in a salad, but please leave out the oranges.
20. It was their custom to march through the middle of the country.
21. No passion left, only solace.
22. Were the saplings in that war on the side of the angels?
23. A real deceiver but one of scarce resources.
24. Could that be a Rubens I saw over at the Tates (and why, by the way, were the two of them fighting)?
25. She kept company with believers.
Entries to my normblog email address by 2 January, please. The judges (WotN and I) will award book tokens worth £20.00 each to the two entries with most correct answers.
(For the answers, see now here.)
