Cities in Literature Trivia Quiz

Answer: London and Paris

'A Tale of Two Cities' is set in the period of the French revolution and the subsequent Jacobin reign of terror. The novel tells the story of Frenchman Charles Darnay and Englishman, Sydney Carton and, as is common with Dickens, is a book concerned with social justice and redemption.

Answer: Moscow

Like 'A Tale of Two Cities', 'Anna Karenina' was originally written in serial form for a periodical magazine. The novel opens with the summoning of Anna from St Petersburg by her brother Stiva who wishes her to persuade his wife Dolly not to leave him due to his infidelity.

Answer: The Emerald City

The Emerald City is located at the end of the yellow brick road in the Land of Oz. The Wizard made all people who entered wear tinted glasses to make everything inside appear green.

Answer: Saigon

The capital of the South when Vietnam was partitioned into two states between 1954 and 1975, Saigon is now known officially as Ho Chi Minh City in commemoration of the leader at the time of re-unification. Hanoi is the capital of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam although Ho Chi Minh City is the more populous.

Answer: Pandaemonium

Pandaemonium comes from ancient Greek, roughly translating as "all the demons". Similarly Pantheon roughly translates as "all the gods". Hades was the name of the Greek nether world and also its ruler.

Answer: Dallas

Both books are amongst the many recounting the tale of the Kennedy assassination. 'Libra', written by Don DeLillo, concentrates on the life of Lee Harvey Oswald from his childhood through his time in the USSR and the development of his communist sympathies. Oswald's assassination attempt is set up by the CIA as a means of persuading the government to go to war with Cuba.

'American Tabloid', the novel by James Ellroy, spans the five years prior to the assassination and follows the paths of three men: Kemper Boyd, an FBI man appointed by J Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the offices of the president; Ward Littell, Boyd's former partner; and Pete Bondurant, a CIA man involved in the campaign against Fidel Castro. As with 'Libra' (which Ellroy admits was an influence), it is the Cuban situation (most notably the failed Bay of Pigs invasion) which is the catalyst for the assassination plot.

Answer: Verona

'Romeo and Juliet' is one of two Shakespeare plays to be set in part in Verona, the other being 'Two Gentlemen of Verona'. You can visit Juliet's house in the city on Via Cappello where it is claimed that Romeo serenaded Juliet.

Answer: Shanghai

Based on the author's own childhood experiences, 'Empire of the Sun' tells the story of an 11-year-old boy, Jim, who is separated from his parents and interned in a prison camp by the Japanese after they capture Shanghai following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Answer: Vienna

Greene wrote novels called "Our Man in Havana", "Dr Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party" and "Brighton Rock". Vienna was the setting for the novella, "The Third Man".

Answer: Atlanta

In 1864, Atlanta became the focus of a sustained attack from the Union conducted by General William Sherman. Atlanta was the Confederacy's second most important stronghold after the capital, Richmond, and the hope was that it could be held until the election that was due in November 1864 took place. If the Confederacy had not been defeated by this point, then defeat for Lincoln at the ballot box might be a possibility.

The campaign to take Atlanta began in May 1864 and it eventually fell at the end of August that year when General John Hood fled the city. Before leaving Hood gave the order to destroy all public buildings so that the Union could make no use of them.

Atlanta was the city where Margaret Mitchell was born.