Authors and their Lesser Known Works Quiz

Answer: George Orwell

"Coming Up for Air" was published in 1939 after Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair) returned to London after recuperating in Casablanca and Marrakesh from possible tuberculosis and injuries caused by being shot in the throat by a sniper bullet in 1937.

The book is a bleak, comedic, nostalgic narrative, written in the first person dealing with pre-war anxiety of common English people.

Answer: Joseph Heller

"Closing Time" was Joseph Heller's sixth novel, published in 1994 as a sequel to his most famous anti-war novel, "Catch-22" (1961). The book features characters from the first book who are now nearing the end of their lives, including the still-malingering Yossarian, although there are not many left from "Catch-22" to pursue a true follow up story.

Answer: Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy wrote this early novella in 1859, ten years before his masterpiece "War and Peace" (1869). It was published in the magazine "The Russian Messenger" and not well received, although in later years critics changed their minds about his work.

Parts of the book have been quoted in the book and film "Into the Wild" (1996 & 2007 respectively), as well as being performed as a play.

Answer: Virginia Woolf

"Between the Acts" was Adeline Virginia Woolf's last lyrical novel, published in 1941 shortly after her suicide. She had thought that the book was "silly and trivial", but it was neither of these. She died before final revisions to the book had been made, but it is thought they would be been insignificant to the storyline.

Answer: Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "The Last Man" was published in 1826, eight years after "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus". It is a novel about post-apocalyptic science-fiction death written in the first person. Based loosely on her own personal grief, the characters represent those people close to her (husband, children, Lord Byron, his mistress and herself).

Answer: Louisa May Alcott

Before becoming famous for her "Little Women" novel and its sequels, Louisa May Alcott wrote a series of three psychological thriller novellas under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard - "Behind a Mask, or A Woman's Power", "The Abbott's Ghost" and "A Long Fatal Love Chase". The family were suffering financially, so she had turned to short story writing to help them out.

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

An astrolabe is a scientific instrument used in the Middle Ages by astronomers and by sailors to calculate latitude, as well as for star navigation.

Chaucer compiled the instruction manual "A Treatise on the Astrolabe" for Lowys, his son, and it was based on an earlier treatise by Ibn-al-Safar. He was also credited with "The Equatorie of the Planetis", about another astronomical device, based on his writing style, but this was later attributed to John Westwyk, an astronomer and monk.

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the historical romance novel "Kidnapped" in 1886 featuring the character of David Balfour seeking his inheritance. The sequel, "Catriona", was published in 1893 and starts where "Kidnapped" ended, with the further adventures of David Balfour.

As it is written in Scottish tongue, it is a little difficult to read but a good sequel. The book was published in the USA as "David Balfour".

Answer: Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens wrote a series of five "Christmas" novellas beginning with "A Christmas Carol"(1843), followed by "The Chimes"(1844), "The Cricket on the Hearth" (1845), "The Battle of Life"(1846) and ending with "The Haunted Man" (1847), also known by its full title, "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain".
Like "A Christmas Carol", it is set on Christmas Eve and also deals with a man confronting a ghost that is a reflection of himself.

Answer: George Eliot

"Romola" was written by Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) and can be described as an historical novel. It was published in 1862-1863, first in a monthly magazine and then as a three part book. It was her fourth novel and takes place in Florence, Italy rather than England, the setting for her first three novels, and is probably the least read of her novels.