Debut Novels of Famous Authors Quiz

Answer: Roald Dahl

Gremlins are small imaginary creatures allegedly responsible for unexplained problems or faults in aircraft. The word "gremlin" was apparently coined in the 1920s by the British Royal Air Force and popularised during World War II.

"The Gremlins" was Roald Dahl's first published novel (1943). Walt Disney commissioned Dahl to write the story with the intention of making a film from it, but the film was never made. As a RAF fighter pilot during World War II, Roald Dahl was familiar with the concept of gremlins.

In Dahl's story, the protagonist, Gus, is a RAF pilot whose aircraft is sabotaged by a gremlin in retaliation for the destruction of their forest habitat. Gus manages to convince the gremlins to join him in the fight against Hitler and the Nazis. The gremlins join the RAF and learn how to fix the damage they have caused to the aircraft.

The 1984 movie, "Gremlins", was based on the same concept as Dahl's book, i.e. gremlins being small creatures capable of wreaking havoc, but it is NOT the same story.

Answer: George Orwell

George Orwell was the pen-name of Eric Arthur Blair, an English novelist. He is best known for his novels "1984" and "Animal Farm". "Burmese Days" was his first novel, based on his own life in Burma under the British Raj.

Orwell had some difficulty getting it published because it was quite an unflattering portrait of life in Burma and British imperialism. There was also the potential for libel suits because some of the people that the characters were based on were too easily identified.

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"This Side of Paradise" (1920) is F. Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel, although he is much better known for his third novel, "The Great Gatsby" (1925). He was only 23 years old when his first novel was published. At that time, Fitzgerald was in love with Zelda Sayre but she was concerned about his lack of financial prospects.

She made publication of his novel a condition for accepting his proposal of marriage.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson first appeared in "A Study in Scarlet" in a magazine, "Beeton's Christmas Annual", in 1887. The following year, the story was published in book format. The title is derived from a line in the novel where Sherlock Holmes says, "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it". Prior to publication, Conan Doyle had titled his story "A Tangled Skein" and his two protagonists were originally named Sherrinford Hope and Ormond Sacker.

Answer: Jane Austen

Jane Austen's debut novel was "Sense and Sensibility", published in three volumes in 1811. It was published anonymously with an inscription indicating that it was written "By a Lady" on the title page. It was an immediate success. Originally entitled "Elinor and Marianne", it tells the story of the life and romantic relationships of sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

"The Big Sleep" was Raymond Chandler's first novel and is classified as a "hardboiled detective novel". Hardboiled detective novels typically feature a protagonist who is a tough, street-smart private detective or amateur sleuth. This is certainly true of Chandler's detective, Philip Marlowe.

The "big sleep" mentioned in the title is a euphemism for death. In 1946, a film version was made starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall which is considered a classic in this genre.

Answer: Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist. Her first novel, "Strangers on a Train" was a highly successful psychological thriller and in the year following its publication, it was made into a popular film by Alfred Hitchcock. Since then, it has been adapted a number of times for film, television, radio and stage.

The plot involves two strangers who meet on a train. One man wishes to be free of his wife in order to marry another woman, but his wife refuses to divorce him. The other man would like to be rid of his father, so he suggests they should "swap murders", claiming the police would not be able to connect them to the victims.

Answer: E.M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was an English writer best known for his novels, "A Room with a View" (1908), "Howards End" (1910) and "A Passage to India" (1924).

His first novel was "Where Angels Fear to Tread", published in 1905. The title is derived from Alexander Pope's famous line from "An Essay on Criticism" -- "for fools rush in where angels fear to tread".

The novel is set in Italy. Lilia is a widow who falls in love with an Italian, Gino, and re-marries, to the horror of her first husband's family. When Lilia dies in childbirth, they attempt to gain custody of the child so he can be raised as English. Gino refuses to relinquish his son, so Harriet (Lilia's sister-in-law) kidnaps the child, which eventually leads to tragedy.

Answer: George Eliot

George Eliot was the pen-name of Mary Ann Evans, an English writer from the Victorian era. Although she had some previously published short stories and poems, her first novel was "Adam Bede", which she described as "a country story full of the breath of cows and scent of hay". Most literary sources describe the plot as a "love rectangle" between Adam Bede and three other main characters.

It was loosely based on a true story told to Evans by her aunt.

Answer: Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was a science fiction writer, best known for his novel "Fahrenheit 451", a novel about a future society where books are banned. His debut novel, "The Martian Chronicles", was a "fix-up" novel. In the world of publishing, a "fix-up" novel is one which is created from a group of short stories, usually with some new material which connects them together. "The Martian Chronicles" were originally written as individual short stories which Bradbury connected into a novel at the suggestion of Walter Bradbury (no relation), an editor at Doubleday. Walter Bradbury also suggested the title.