Maeve Binchy's "The Glass Lake" Quiz

Answer: Mary Katherine

She was christened Mary Katherine McMahon. It is mentioned several times, though quite late.

Answer: Green Lake

... though Kit thinks that the lake sometimes really looks like crystal. Interesting enough, the novel is called "The Glass Lake", not "The Green Lake" - but the German title is "The Green Lake".

Answer: his stutter

Sister Madeleine lives in a hut near the lake, and everyone comes to visit her from time to time and tells her their problems. She is always ready to help. When Emmet comes to her, she reads poetry with him, and Emmet's stutter starts to go away.

Answer: doctor

Peter Kelly is Martin McMahon's best friend. They often go together to Paddles' pub to have a beer or two. The other pub in Lough Glass is called Shea's and is located just opposite the Central Hotel.

Answer: she burns the letter her mother left on Martin's pillow

Kit thinks that Helen McMahon committed suicide and that the letter she left proves it. So she burns it without reading it in order to make it possible for Helen's body to be buried in sacred ground (for suicide is a sin). Actually, Helen went away with her first and only love, Louis Gray, and she explained everything to Martin in the letter.

Answer: Ivy Brown

Ivy is actually the first person to call Helen "Lena", and Louis likes the name, so they stick to it. "Lena Gray" is born.

Dawn Jones and Jessie Millar are Lena's colleagues, and Kathleen Sullivan is Stevie's mother. She owns a gas station in Lough Glass.

Answer: Dryden

Louis works in the Dryden. His boss is James Williams, who later develops a crush on Lena. Louis has a very good job at the hotel, but he also uses it to cover his several affairs.

The Central Hotel is in Lough Glass and is owned by Dan and Mildred O'Brien. Their son Philip has been in love with Kit for years.

Answer: for Kit's 13th birthday

Lena desparately wants to know how her kids are doing, so she gets in touch with Kit, pretending to be an old friend of Helen's. She sends her letters to Sister Madeleine, who seems to know about the whole thing. Kit and Lena stay in touch for some years, until Kit travels to London and wants to visit her. That's where she learns that Lena Gray is actually her mother, whom she had thought to be dead.

Answer: False

Kit finds it out when she is with Ivy, thinking that she missed Lena. Then suddenly Lena returns and Kit recognizes her.

Answer: Mr. Tyrone

Louis, who is constantly untrue to Lena, has left her, but some time later he returns to her. Ivy calls Lena to tell her that he just came for the keys, and since she knows that Dawn, Lena's colleague, is listening, she employs a "code" - she calls Louis "Mr. Tyrone" after Tyrone Power, because Louis looks so much like a movie star.

Answer: Lena sends Kit a dress for the wedding

Lena is very relieved to hear that Kit doesn't tell that she's still alive. She sends her a dress for Martin's and Maura's wedding, and after a while, the two of them get in touch again.

Answer: the mentally slightly disordered man who mugged Mrs. Sullivan and Martin McMahon

He lives with Sister Madeleine for about six weeks.

Answer: Dawn

Lena hears Dawn say something about a guilty conscience because Lena is so nice, and she slept with her husband. Lena then fires her, although Dawn is very good in her job.

Grace owns the beauty salon that Lena always goes to.

Answer: Emmet had begged her to do so

Emmet is madly in love with Clio's sister Anna, but she has dumped him for Stevie. So Emmet begs Kit to make a pass at Stevie in order to distract him from Anna. None of them would have thought that things would turn out to become serious between Kit and Stevie.

Answer: True

Ernest, who owns a pub near Ivy's house, has alwas been Ivy's love, but he has been married for quite a long time. When Charlotte, his wife, dies, Ivy thinks at first that it's too late, but then Ernest and she do get married.

Answer: Kit

Sister Madeleine leaves Lough Glass and goes to a nunnery.

Answer: he made Kevin's and Michael's sister Mary Paula pregnant and has to marry her

Mary Paula is the sister of Clio's boyfriend Michael O'Connor. Lena seems to cope with it, but on the wedding she turns up and is just about to do something when Kit spots her and holds her back. We never learn what Lena wanted to do, but she had nearly lost her mind.

Answer: Yes

She hides in the bushes when the ball at the Central Hotel takes place. Kit hears that she is there, but when she sets out to find her, Lena is gone. She later asks Stevie to make a call and check if Lena is alright.

Answer: she dies in a car accident

Louis calls Lena and threatens to tell the truth about her. Lena hangs up on him, but at night she drives to Brighton and has an accident. Kit forces Louis to attend the funeral.

Answer: they have been together for several months, are happy together and want to get married in a few years' time

Quite an unusual ending for Maeve Binchy, but I like it the way it is.

I hope you enjoyed this quiz, and I hope that you loved this wonderful book as much as I did.