'The Cinder Path' Trivia Quiz

Answer: to the burn

William MacFell instigated the path, and soon showed that he intended to use it as a punishment area for those under the age of 15 on his farm - to be whipped was punishment enough, but kneeling on the cinders of the path whilst being whipped would make it even more painful.

Answer: Nellie

They were both drunk at the time, and when Nellie's father found them he was angry as the plan was for Charlie to marry Nellie's older sister, Victoria. By the end of the book, Charlie and Nellie were together.

Answer: 15

Edward had been bedding Arthur's mother, big Polly, for some years, and she had permitted it as to refuse would have meant the entire family would have been turned out of their cottage as her husband was an invalid and the children were not old enough to warrant a tied cottage anywhere.

When Edward decided that young Polly was to provide his son Charlie with a similar service, her brother Arthur misunderstood and believed that Polly was to replace his mother; incensed, he lay in wait to teach Edward a lesson, but the fall from his horse caused his death. Charlie witnessed the event, as did Ginger Slater, who was to blackmail the boys for the rest of his life.

Answer: nothing

While Charlie was like his mother, Betty was the image of her father, and like him in temperament. She was to run the farm, although it belonged to her brother, until the end of the first world war, when she would abscond with the money made from the sale of every piece of furniture and stock.

Answer: that the Benton family was to remain

Mary, his mother, wanted to remove the Bentons because her husband had been sleeping with big Polly all those years, but Charlie would not let her, reminding her that big Polly had no choice in the matter. As a result, his mother was not to give him any support in the years that followed.

Answer: Hebburn

Polly agreed to marry Ginger because of the blackmailing over Edward's death. They had a happy marriage, with three children, before Ginger died in the war; a tale told near the end of the book showed how Ginger lengthened his leave to stay with her when the third pregnancy hit a problem, and thereby lost his sergeant's stripes.

Answer: Major Smith

Fearing that Charlie would cite him in divorce proceedings, Major Smith arranged a commission for him, thus making him a fellow officer. Ginger, who had been Charlie's Corporal during training, had blacklisted him constantly, thus preventing any possibility of promotion, and was instantly suspicious of the move. He was later to tell Charlie how he won his promotion.

Answer: six foot three

This is told to us when he was talking with his batman, Miller. Miller told him how the camp was taking bets on who was the tallest officer in the camp - Charlie topped Captain Blackett by half an inch. Sometimes nicknames were given which described the opposite of the truth, and a short man could be called 'Lofty' as soon as a tall man.

Answer: Charlie

Charlie was being taunted by Ginger while they were in a captured German trench - Ginger was calling him a loser who only got his stripes by 'virtue' of his whoring wife. It only took a second, and Charlie shot him. He admitted to the killing to the army, and underwent an investigation in which Ginger's strange behaviour was described, and Charlie was exonerated.

The army reported that Ginger was killed in action, and Polly was to believe that her husband died a heroic death.

Answer: right

He had just found out that his sister had cleared out the farm, and was there with Nellie when it moved - to the left. With her money (inherited from her aunt) they planned to restock and start life again, free and easy of past pains and problems.