A Snowy Read Trivia Quiz

Answer: Murder on the Orient Express

In the 1934 Agatha Christie classic "Murder on the Orient Express", a man is murdered in his train cabin in the middle of the night. Luckily private detective Hercule Poirot is on board and is able to deduce that the murderer must still be on the train, since the train came to a halt right after the murder thanks to a big snow drift in its path.

This plot point was inspired by Christie's own experience on an Orient Express, when the train was stuck for over 24 hours due to flooding.

Answer: The Giver

In Lois Lowry's "The Giver" (1993), Jonas lives in a very bland, uniform society where all members are assigned a role in the community at age 12. Jonas gets selected to be the new Receiver of Memory, who is the designated holder of all memories and knowledge outside of this society.

The previous Receiver becomes the Giver and transfers his memories to Jonas. One of these is a memory of sledding down a snowy hill, the first experience Jonas has with snow.

Answer: A Game of Thrones

The first book in George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire", "A Game of Thrones" (1996) introduces us to the people and places of Westeros and beyond. At the very far North end of Westeros is the Wall, a large fortress manned by the Night's Watch, to protect Westeros from the people beyond the Wall. The other side of the Wall features very wintry weather, which begins spreading south through the series as "Winter is coming".

The series, of course, inspired the HBO TV series "Game of Thrones", which also features many snowy scenes.

Answer: Fifth Business

"Fifth Business" (1970), by Robertson Davies, is written as a memoir of the main character, Dunstan. At the beginning of the book, Dunstan recounts an incident that occurred when he was ten years old, when his friend threw a snowball at him. Dunstan dodged the snowball, and instead it hit a neighbour, Mrs. Dempster, causing her to go into premature labour.

The incident had long lasting effects for Dunstan, the Dempsters (including premature baby Paul) and Percy, the snowball thrower.

Answer: Thomas' Snowsuit

"Thomas' Snowsuit" (1985) is a children's story by Robert Munsch. In the book, a young boy named Thomas really doesn't want to wear his ugly brown snowsuit, despite the best efforts of his mother, his teacher and his principal. The poor principal gets so fed up, he moves to Arizona.

Answer: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The first published novel in the "Chronicles of Narnia" series by C.S. Lewis, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (1950) sees the ending of the Hundred Year Winter, a curse done by the White Witch to keep Narnia in a deep freeze. Though it's always winter, Christmas never comes - until now when Father Christmas arrives for the first time in a century. Four children who have been transported to Narnia, along with Aslan the lion, battle the White Witch to bring an end to the long winter.

Answer: The Shining

In Stephen King's 1977 horror novel "The Shining", the Torrance family moves into the Overlook Hotel for the winter, as father Jack will be the caretaker for the season. The hotel is full of ghosts and past horrific events. As Jack begins to go mad, the family becomes trapped by a big snowstorm, unable to seek help.

In 1980 "The Shining" became a hit movie starring Jack Nicholson.

Answer: The Long Winter

"The Long Winter" (1940) is one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's semi-autobiographical children's novels about her childhood. This one is more true to life than some other novels; the Ingalls family did indeed suffer through a very harsh winter near De Smet, South Dakota in 1880-81, a year that saw so many blizzards it became known as 'the snow winter'.

The fact that the town nearly starved to death (a bit downplayed in the novel, seeing as it's aimed at kids) was true to life as well; as in the book, supply trains were unable to get through to the town for several months that year due to the snow.

In the story, the Ingalls family celebrates Christmas in May when the trains are finally able to come through with food and Christmas parcels.

Answer: Snowblind

Christopher Golden's 2014 book "Snowblind" features the town of Coventry, Massachusetts, where they are expecting a major snowstorm. The townspeople can't help but remember the last huge blizzard 12 years earlier, during which 18 people were seemingly 'lured' into the centre of the storm and simply disappeared - no bodies left behind.

As the latest blizzard approaches, people begin acting stangely and the town begins to get indications that those who died last time may no longer be dead.

Answer: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

At the beginning of "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" (2005), by Kim Edwards, Norah goes into labour during a blizzard. Due to the weather, her husband David can't get her to the hospital, nor can their obstetrician get to them. Luckily David is a doctor, and performs the delivery himself at his clinic.

They are both surprised to find that Norah is actually pregnant with twins, but when the second baby is born, David can tell that she has Down Syndrome, and tells Norah that the baby girl has died. David gives the girl to his nurse, Caroline, to take her away and place her in an institution, but Caroline keeps the baby instead.

The novel then explores the lasting effects for all involved.