Anne Tyler's Protagonists Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ian Bedloe ('Saint Maybe')

Like many of Tyler's characters, Ian lives in Baltimore. He suspects that his brother Danny's wife Lucy is having an affair, and when he tells Danny, Danny responds by driving his car into a wall. Lucy takes an overdose soon after, and Ian and his parents are left to bring up Thomas and Agatha, Lucy's children from her first marriage, and Daphne, her and Danny's daughter. Blaming himself for Danny's death, Ian discovers a church called the Church of the Second Chance, which holds its services in a shop and encourages members to tell their troubles and pray for each other. Ian drops out of university, becomes a carpenter and gets the children to join the church, much to the dismay of his parents.

After Ian's mother dies, Daphne enlists the help of Rita de Carlo, an expert in decluttering houses, and Rita and Ian end up together.

Answer: Michael Anton ('The Amateur Marriage')

'The Amateur Marriage' follows the marriage of Michael Anton and Pauline Bailey, from their meeting during the Second World War to their divorce, Michael's remarriage and Pauline's eventual death. Michael is part of Baltimore's Polish community, and helps his mother in the family grocery.

He meets Pauline after she and a group of friends come into the shop. They have three children, Lindy, George and Karen; Lindy becomes a beatnik in her teens, gets into drink and drugs, and goes missing several times, eventually disappearing for several years. Pauline and Michael try to track her down and discover that she has a son, Pagan.

Unfortunately, Lindy is unable to see them as she is in a New Age retreat, and has had a mental breakdown due to drug use. Pauline and Michael adopt Pagan and raise him as their own. Later in the book, Pauline and Michael divorce and Michael marries Anna, a piano teacher and an old friend of Pauline. Lindy returns in the penultimate chapter, only to discover that Pauline is dead and Michael has sold the grocery, and has an awkward reunion with George.

She and Pagan are reunited, but distant.

Answer: Macon Leary ('The Accidental Tourist')

Macon Leary is an uptight man who writes a series of books known as 'The Accidental Tourist'. His marriage breaks down after his son Ethan is shot dead during a robbery. As his dog is behaving badly, he hires Muriel Pritchett, a dog trainer and single mother who is the complete opposite of him in every way. Macon falls in love with Muriel and moves in with her, but finds himself at a crossroads when Sarah, his ex-wife, wants to get back with him. Although they do get back together, Macon realises he is still in love with Muriel and goes back to her.

The book was made into a film in 1988, starring William Hurt as Macon, Geena Davies as Muriel and Kathleen Turner as Sarah.

Answer: Kate Battista ('Vinegar Girl')

'Vinegar Girl' is part of a series of books which were retellings of Shakespeare plays; in this instance, Tyler chose 'The Taming of the Shrew' because she hated it and wanted to rewrite it. Katherine becomes Kate, who lives with her academic father after dropping out of university and getting a job as a nursery nurse. Bianca becomes Bunny, her younger sister, and Petruchio becomes Pyotr, an Eastern European scientist who is working as Mr Battista's lab assistant. Like Katherine, Kate is outspoken, and gets into trouble at work because of her bluntness.

Although Kate and Pyotr's relationship is a marriage of convenience in order to get him a green card, Kate ends up becoming attracted to him for real. She even makes a Katherine-esque speech at the end, though it's a little more in tune with modern values than Katherine's lines in the play!

Answer: Evie Decker ('A Slipping-Down Life')

In 'A Slipping-Down Life', Evie Decker, a teenage girl who lives in North Carolina, falls in love with rock star Bertram Casey, aka 'Drumstrings'. His stage name comes from his percussive style of guitar playing, and his lyrics are cryptic. She carves his name on her forehead, backwards, with a piece of glass. Drumstrings goes to visit her in hospital, and she starts following his gigs. The two of them get married and move in together, but as his music career wanes, their relationship goes into decline, and she eventually leaves him after he cheats on her and her father dies.

A film was made of the book in 1999, starring Lili Taylor as Evie and Guy Pearce as Drumstrings.

Answer: Rebecca Davitch ('Back When We Were Grown-Ups')

Rebecca Davitch has a mid-life crisis after realising that her life has taken a drastic turn from how it used to be. She was originally an academic history student with an equally academic boyfriend, Will, but she left him for Joe Davitch, a single father of three girls whose family own a house, the Open Arms, which people hire as a venue for events.

After Joe dies in a car crash, Rebecca takes over the business, and has various relatives helping out. She also finds herself taking care of Poppy, Joe's senile old uncle who is about to celebrate his 100th birthday. Rebecca meets up with Will, who is now a professor and divorced with a daughter, and considers getting back together with him.

However, when Will meets the Davitch family, Rebecca changes her mind and realises she still loves Joe.

Answer: Ezra Tull ('Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant')

Pearl Tull is left to raise her children alone when their father Beck walks out. Cody, the oldest, is a rebellious prankster who bullies Ezra and later breaks up his relationship with Ruth, a cook at his job. Jenny, the youngest, is a scatty paediatrician with a large family. Ezra, the middle child and Pearl's favourite in Cody's eyes, gets a job at a local restaurant, and eventually changes it to the Homesick Restaurant, where he institutes a policy of giving customers dishes that he thinks they would like, rather than the ones they ordered.

He and his nephew Luke have a cameo in one of Tyler's later books, 'The Beginner's Goodbye'. Throughout the book, the Tulls try and fail to have a meal together at the restaurant, but each time someone - usually Pearl - walks out.

Answer: Maggie Moran ('Breathing Lessons')

Maggie and her husband Ira are on a journey to the funeral of Maggie's friend Serena's husband Max. Like many other Tyler couples, they are opposites; Ira is quiet and serious, while Maggie is friendly, chatty and a bit of a ditz. Ira has a quirk of whistling songs which suggest what mood he is in, while Maggie overshares with strangers, a habit which causes a quarrel between her and Ira on the way to the funeral.

At the funeral, they meet up with old classmates and sing the same pop songs that they sang at Max and Serena's wedding, to Ira's discomfort. Serena kicks them out of her house afterwards when she discovers them getting intimate. We also learn that their son Jesse has split up with Fiona, the mother of his child, and Maggie hopes that the two will get back together, though Ira knows otherwise.

Answer: Barnaby Gaitlin ('A Patchwork Planet')

'I am a man you can trust' is the first and last line of the book. Barnaby Gaitlin comes from a rich family who made money from patenting a dress form, and the men of the family believe that they have 'angels' who inspire their work or help them in some way - for instance, the woman who inspired Barnaby's great-grandfather to come up with the dress form.

As a teenager, Barnaby burgled houses, bringing shame on his family, who had to repay his victims. He is a single father who works for Rent-a-Back, a company which helps move furniture for people who are old or disabled.

When he meets a woman, Sophia Maynard, at a station on the way to see his daughter, she turns out to be his 'angel'. She asks him to work for her aunt, but the aunt blames Barnaby when money goes missing.

Answer: Delia Grinstead ('Ladder of Years')

Cordelia 'Delia' Grinstead is the youngest of three children and somewhat of a fantasist. Her husband Sam, a doctor, inherited her father's old practice, much to her sisters' disapproval. On a beach holiday with her family, she walks away and travels to a small town, in a workman's camper van.

She buys herself new clothes, finds rented accommodation, and even gets a job working as a legal secretary, although she hates it and later applies for a job as a home help with Joel Miller, the local school's headmaster. Joel also has a son, Noah, and Delia helps take care of him and eventually moves in with them.

Her sister Eliza comes to visit her, as does her son Carroll - although he breaks the visit off in anger - and her family all write to her, but she does not go home until her daughter Susie's wedding. Susie gets cold feet, and Delia has to help her and her fiancé Driscoll reconcile.

She also has to face the unfortunate truth that she abandoned her family and hurt them, and it is implied at the end that she makes the decision to stay with them.