"Tomboys" in Literature Quiz | Literary Characters

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. My first heroine appeared in a book by Charles Portis, along with a one-eyed fat man and a Texas Ranger with a cowlick. What was her name?

Answer: Mattie Ross

Would it have helped if I had said the one-eyed fat man was called Rooster Cogburn? Kim Darby captured the spirited Mattie perfectly in the film of "True Grit" - one of the few films to have perfectly (in my opinion) captured the original book. The other wrong answers were all females from the American Wild West.

2. My next heroine comes from a Daphne du Maurier book. An aging actress, living in Cornwall with a huge adopted brood of children and her granddaughter, fought off an American 'invasion' single-handedly. What was the name her granddaughter Emma called her?

Answer: Mad

'Rule Britannia' was published in 1972 and is set in an undated future. Britain has been thrown out of the EU and has started an alliance called 'USUK' with the United States. Mad, the lead character (called this because of her retired dresser's habit of calling her Madam) thinks the whole thing is a con when an American soldier shoots a farmer's dog and the diverting story of how she and her six (!) adopted boys and granddaughter rout the 'invaders' is highly recommended. Rebecca and Rachel are characters from better-known Daphne Du Maurier works.

3. The next heroine was eleven years old with the face of an angel, from a book by Joe David Brown. She went travelling with her possible father (one of three candidates!), Long Boy.

Answer: Addie Pray

'Addie Pray' was, according to the 'blurb' on the back copy of my book 'simply one of the great con artists of modern fiction'. The book was made into the excellent Peter Bogdanovich film, 'Paper Moon' and Tatum O'Neal became the youngest person to win an Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress) as Addie Pray. All the wrong answers are females from the book.

4. This girl, from a Louisa May Alcott book, wanted to be an actress and got mistaken for a boy because of her curly short hair.

Answer: Josie Brooke

Jo from 'Little Women' would have been too easy! Jo always wanted to be a writer, but all the girls loved acting, and this thespian streak came to a head in Meg Brooke's daughter in 'Jo's Boys'. Josie is mistaken for a boy by Miss Cameron, a famous actress who gives Josie encouragement. Bess Laurence is Amy and Laurie's daughter and Alice Heath becomes Demi Brooke's fiance.

5. This girl, featured in two books of a Terry Pratchett series, changed her name a lot! She had been known as Sigourney and Kasandra. What was her real name?

Answer: Kirsty

Kirsty is a go-getting girl from the books 'Only You Can Save Mankind' and 'Johnny and the Bomb'. She doesn't appear in the other book ('Johnny and the Dead') in the Johnny Maxwell series. Although these books are ostensibly for children, they say some extremely wise and saddening things about war. All the wrong answers are Johnny's friends.

6. This character is probably the reason I started this quiz. The most famous of my examples, this girl was one of two females in the group she went around in. However, she was not the one dishing up lashings of food and ginger-pop - she'd be more likely to be feeding the dog! She went by a boy's name, but which one?

Answer: George

Yes, George from the Famous Five made a deep impression on me as a child - because, let's face it - Anne is a bit of a drip, isn't she? The Famous Five were Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog - and the last two had all the charisma, in my opinion.

7. This character, from a series of books by Elizabeth George, had a very tough life. When we first met her, her father was smoking through a chronic breathing complaint, her mother was lurching into dementia and her little brother had been killed. She was also unpopular at work because of her abrasive nature, and was in no sense good looking, with a weird dress sense. Paired with an exquisite aristocratic Inspector she became a really good detective, and was strong-minded enough to point a gun at a superior she believed was making a mistake. What was her name?

Answer: Barbara Havers

Elizabeth George's novels are not exactly light reading, but they are very finely crafted and complex. Barbara surely deserves a break as so far, the only person to take any interest in her was a murderous policeman! The wrong answers are all characters from the novels. Some of the books have been televised as 'The Inspector Lynley mysteries' but I recognise neither Barbara nor the books in these adaptations.

8. This lady was Sharpe's first wife and mother to his daughter Antonia in the Bernard Cornwell series.

Answer: Teresa Moreno

The 'Sharpe' series is about a soldier during Britain's long Napoleonic war, and is a thoroughly good read. Teresa was nicknamed La Aguja (the Needle) and was a noted guerilla fighter. Jane Gibbons was Sharpe's treacherous second wife - he conceived his first child with Grace Hale, but she died in childbirth. Pat Harper is Patrick Harper, his massive Irish sergeant and best friend.

9. This lady was Captain W.E. Johns' female equivalent to Biggles.

Answer: Worrals

There are eleven books and three short stories about Joan Worrals. She was resolute and courageous in the face of danger and even shot down an aircraft in 'Worrals of the W.A.A.F'.

10. This lady is an accomplished artist and resists her admirer, Roderick Alleyn, for several Ngaio Marsh books, but eventually succumbs. She is known as 'Troy', which was her maiden surname, but what was her rather old-fashioned first name?

Answer: Agatha

While Alleyn falls in love at first sight, it takes Troy a while (particularly as she's not keen on his job). The wrong answers are nods to some more of my favourite women in detective fiction (Harriet Vane, Lucy Pym and Maud Silver). I hope you enjoyed this quiz.

Source: Author Quiz_Beagle

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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"Tomboys" in Literature Trivia Quiz

As a female reader I was never drawn to the 'traditional' heroines - I preferred them more feisty. This is a quiz celebrating them - enjoy!

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