The Letter People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dracula

Jonathan Harker records his journey to Transylvania where he plans to assist Count Dracula with some real estate transactions, his realization that he has become a prisoner, and his narrow escape from the castle. The next stage of the story comes from the log of a ship's captain, whose entire crew has died while carrying boxes of Transylvanian soil to England. Lucy, a friend of Harker's fiancée (later wife) Mina is turned into a vampire by Dracula, and a coalition of her former suitors, Harker and Professor Abraham van Helsing try to save her, to no avail. Dracula shifts his attentions to Mina, whose life will only be saved if they can kill Dracula before he possesses her entirely. The action moves back to Transylvania, where Dracula is indeed slain, having his throat cut and being stabbed in the heart by two different assailants, and crumbles to dust.

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley was also written primarily in epistolary form; "The Dead Un-Dead" was the working title of "Dracula" while it was being written; Bram Stoker originally intended to call his vampire Count Wampyr, using the German term for a vampire, before he came across a reference to Vlad III the Impaler (also called Vlad Dracula because he was the son of Vlad II Dracul), a 15th century Transylvanian-born ruler of Wallachia.

Answer: Daddy-Long-Legs

Judy is told that an anonymous benefactor will pay for her education if she agrees to write a letter each month, addressed to Mr. John Smith, to which she will not receive any reply. This is intended to help develop her writing skills, so she can achieve her potential.

The story has been turned into a musical comedy ("Love From Judy", 1952) as well as a number of movies, including one in 1919 starring Mary Pickford, one in 1931 starring Janet Gaynor, and the 1955 version featuring Leslie Caron. Shirley Temple's 1935 film "Curly Top" was based on the book, but featured a much younger female character. "Dear Enemy", the 1915 sequel to "Daddy-Long-Legs" was also an epistolary novel, created from the letters of Sally McBride, one of Judy's best friends.

Answer: The Screwtape Letters

"The Screwtape Letters" (first published in 1942) is made up of thirty-one letters from Screwtape to young Wormwood, ostensibly outlining how to successfully tempt humans into conducting their lives so as to ensure they achieve damnation not through any single act, but by way of many small decisions that slowly but surely corrupt them utterly. The work is actually a satirical apologetic for Christianity, meaning that thoughtful reading of it is intended to make it clear why the tenets of Christian faith offer a guide as to the best way in which one can lead one's life.

"The Pilgrim's Regress", Lewis's first novel after his reconversion to Christianity, is a reworking of the concept of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress". "The Chronicles of Narnia", possibly now the most famous of Lewis's writings, also explore Christian themes of sin and redemption in a form intended to reach young readers. "Dear Wormwood" was the title of a 1961 stage play based on "The Screwtape Letters".

Answer: Up the Down Staircase

All of these titles have been movies about teachers who inspired adolescents in one way or another, but it was "Up the Down Staircase" that featured Sylvia Barrett. We see her becoming increasingly baffled by the demands of bureaucracy epitomized by the title, as well as by the apparent apathy of her colleagues.

She slowly comes to realize that she has made a difference for some students, and decides to stay on rather than moving to a small private school that had offered an apparently easier and more pleasant teaching experience.

Answer: Flowers for Algernon

"Flowers for Algernon" was first published in 1959 as a short story, which won the 1960 Hugo Award for Best Short Story; the expanded novel was published in 1966. Each traces Charlie's painful journey by means of his journal entries. Algernon (named after Algernon Charles Swinburne) is a mouse who undergoes the experimental surgery ahead of Charlie, and whose sudden regression makes everyone aware that the procedure is not going to be a permanent success. Algernon dies, and Charlie returns to his original sub-normal intelligence, but with an intolerable awareness that people pity him. Before he leaves to start a new life, he asks that someone put flowers on Algernon's grave.

Answer: Carrie

Carrie White, victim of abuse from her mother and rejection from her schoolmates, finally snaps after having a bucket of blood tipped over her on Prom Night, as she is onstage being crowned as Prom Queen. Setting the gym on fire is just the start of her destructive rampage, which ends with her own death after she has destroyed much of the town with her telekinetic powers. The 1976 film adaptation of "Carrie" starring Sissy Spacek is considered by many to be a classic in the horror genre.

The other Stephen King titles involve a writer kidnapped by a fan ("Misery"), a man and his pyrokinetically-enabled daughter on the run from authorities ("Firestarter"), and a man who becomes possessed by a hotel ("The Shining").

Answer: The Color Purple

"The Color Purple" won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for its author, Alice Walker. Celie's letters to God help her express her hurt and rage because of the treatment she receives from her stepfather (and the father of her two children). Her marriage to a man known as Mr is at first scarcely happier, especially as her sister seems to have either died or deserted her.

The discovery of a trunk full of letters from Nettie that had been hidden from Celie leads to her taking control of her life, and their final reunion sees them both facing the future with courageous optimism.

Answer: 84 Charing Cross Road

Attracted by an advertisement in "The Saturday Review" from the British company Marks & Co, Helene Hanff wrote asking for assistance in finding some obscure titles for which she was searching. Frank Doell dealt with her request, and many more over the years. The friendship between the two grew steadily as they discussed not only the books he was finding for her, but other aspects of daily life. The final collection shows us not only their personalities, but many details of life at the time in London and New York.

At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue you will find the White House, residence of the President of the United States, which the British Prime Minister resides at 10 Downing Street. 1313 Mockingbird Lane is the fictional address of the Munsters on the 1960s television show of that name.

Answer: Sue Townsend

Starting with the awkward musings of an adolescent, Sue Townsend takes us through his development into an awkward adult, still reliably misinterpreting the events which he records, and battling towards happiness. The books consistently instill social commentary via references to the world events which are in the background of his life. Townsend announced that "Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction" (2004) would be the last in the series because of her deteriorating health (she lost her sight in 2001 as a complication arising from diabetes), but she did write another, which ends with Adrian apparently finding a loving relationship with Pandora, his childhood sweetheart.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Herman Melville (1819-1891) and Mark Twain (1835-1910) were all renowned authors, but none of them was still writing at the end of the twentieth century.

Answer: e

The original subtitle of "e" was "The Novel of Liars, Lunch and Lost Knickers", which gives rather more insight to its tone than does the single letter of the title. Matt Beaumont composed his first novel, published in 2000, entirely from emails sent between employees and business partners of the fictitious international advertising agency Miller Shanks.

The company is involved in preparing a top-secret sales pitch for Coca Cola and in producing a commercial for a pornography channel, and it all goes hilariously wrong.

The sequel "e Squared", released in 2010, adds text messaging into the epistolary mix.