Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister Quiz

Answer: They blamed him for the flooding of the fields and fenlands

Englishman Jack Fisher had married the Dutch Margarethe ten Broek, and had learned how to drain the lowlands from her father. He showed the English villagers how to drain their lands, but when the lowlands flooded, the villagers blamed him. They might have killed the whole family if Margarethe had not escaped with the girls in the dead of night. Within a week they set sail for Holland.

Answer: She was a changeling, having been switched as a baby

Clara herself thought that she was a changling. She believed she had been kidnapped by a crow as a young child and kept in the basement of an old windmill until she was "changed" into a different person. After her parents paid a sizable ransom, she was returned home, but was not the same.

Answer: Agoraphobia

Clara refused to leave the homestead, even though she expressed the desire to do so and see the world. In fact she even avoided passing by doors and windows. When the time came for the Ball with the prince, she had to be forced to go by Iris, and even then, she only went with her face veiled.

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder marked by the fear of public and/or unfamiliar places. In severe cases, the sufferer may be unable to leave his or her home. It includes the fear of being embarrassed in a public place and the fear of being unable to escape.

Answer: The gallery of God's mistakes

Schoonmaker had built his career on painting and selling sacred/religious art, but the Calvinist residents of Haarlem had no use for them. As a painter, he also catalogued the misshapen, "the unholy aberrations", which Schoonmaker said proves our need for God. He kept them locked up because they were so graphic and shocking.

Answer: To be a companion to Clara and teach her English

Mr. van der Meer told Clara, "I've bought you a new friend." Margarethe was brought in to help Clara's mother, the pregnant Henrika, with running the large household, with the understanding that her two daughters would come along also.

Answer: The plague

Another interesting undercurrent of the story is the presence of the bubonic plague, wreaking its devastation across Europe. Margarethe's incessant fear of being homeless is fueled by the homeless people's greater susceptibility to the plague. Although the worst of the plague was experienced in the 1300's, outbreaks persisted until the 1700's.

Answer: The Great Tulip Disaster

The Great Tulip Disaster of 1637 provides a cautionary tale for us today. The tulip market went into a fevered pitch of speculation starting in the early 1630's. Especially rare or prized tulip bulbs were sold for prices that could buy a house. Speculation grew based on the "greater fool theory of investing", where people bought bulbs at ridiculously high prices with the expectation that they could find another fool to pay even more. When the bubble finally burst in Febrary 1637, many were ruined. In our story, having invested everything in tulips, Cornelius van der Meer loses everything including his wits.

Answer: She murdered Clara's mother with poison

There are many hints and innuendos about Margarethe's knowledge of herbs and potions and the words to pronounce, both holy and unholy. Also, it is clear she will do whatever is necessary for herself and her daughters to survive. But we really do not see her capacity for evil until she admits to poisoning the pregnant Henrika.

Her rapid marriage to the grieving widower only weeks after Henrika's death might have been the clue.

Answer: Because Philippe is not expected to live long and needs a robust heir

Information about Prince Philippe comes out as gossip from Margarethe, but the physical description of him is also somewhat suggestible. We learn the truth in the epilogue.

Answer: All of the above

Maguire is a master of leaving a few threads hanging (is Jack Fisher dead or not?) but also in tying up most loose ends. The epilogue wraps up the tale and we learn who marries who and who lives happily ever after, or some approximation thereof.