My Little Friend has a Secret Goldfinch Quiz

Answer: Harriet

In "The Little Friend", a nine year old boy is found hanged and no-one knows who did it. Unsolved crimes seem to be a bit of a theme for Donna Tartt and in this book it is the young boy's sister Harriet who becomes obsessed with finding out who did it. Twelve-year-old Harriet is smart and stubborn and intent on solving the mystery, so she embarks on a number of dangerous activities including going after one of the more menacing families in the town where they live.

Answer: Danny

Robin is the name of the nine year old boy who is found hanged. Harriet and Allison are his two sisters and it is Harriet who decides that she must find out who has killed her brother. In her hunt for the murderer, she goes after a character named Danny who she found out had a fight with Robin before his death. Harriet assumes that it must be Danny who killed Robin; however, in the course of her detective work, she actually finds out that Danny was Robin's friend who was devastated by his death.

Answer: The Goldfinch

"The Goldfinch" was released in 2013 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014. It is the story of a young teen named Theo whose mother is killed in a terrorist bombing while the two of them are at a museum. In the chaos and panic right after the attack, Theo takes a painting called "The Goldfinch".

The story that follows crosses decades and continents as Theo deals with the consequences of that deadly day and the decision he made to take the painting. Personally, I found the story to be meandering and overly long.

It was made into a movie starring Ansel Elgort that was a bit of a flop.

Answer: Boris

After the bomb kills his mother, Theo stays for a while with a school friend; however, his life is turned upside down when his dad and new girlfriend come along and take him to Las Vegas. There, with little parental supervision, Theo meets Boris and the two of them spend their days drinking and doing drugs. While in Vegas, his dad dies and Theo decides to head back to New York City. Throughout all this travel and upheaval, he keeps the stolen painting with him, reminding him of the death of his mother and the crime of theft that he committed.

Answer: Flute

Pippa is a young and very talented flautist who sustains injuries in the bombing which cut short her possible musical career. To add to her psychological makeup, her mother dies of cancer when she is quite young. Theo deeply loves Pippa; however, they never get together and Pippa ends up marrying a man she meets in London, England. We do find out at the end of the novel that Pippa has loved Theo but cannot be with him due to their shared traumas.

Answer: Vermont

This novel tells the story of six tight-knit, mysterious Classics students attending the elite Hampden College in Vermont. The story is narrated by one of the students who is looking back years later at the events that led up to the murder of one of the students and the impact the murder had on the rest of the group. In my opinion, this is by far the best novel by Donna Tartt, it's a mysterious and fascinating tale of six incredibly interesting characters.

Answer: Bunny

Four of the students engage in a ritual that excludes both Richard, our storyteller, and Bunny, who is a loud jerky jokester. During the ritual, a farmer is killed and Henry writes about it in his secret journal. Bunny finds the journal and then blackmails the group. When they can't keep up with his demands any longer and fear that he might expose what they did, they decide to kill him.

Answer: Push him down a ravine

The group goes on a hike and they push Bunny down a ravine to his death. Afterwards the group members struggle to keep their cover while they participate in searches for Bunny and attend his funeral. The remaining students deal with the death in different ways, Charles becomes an alcoholic, becoming abusive to his twin sister Camilla. Our storyteller finds out that Charles and Camilla are also in a sexual relationship and that Charles has slept with another member of their group.

Answer: Henry

The remaining group members are reeling after the death of Bunny and the strain to keep all their secrets and illicit activities secret. Charles thinks that Henry is going to kill him to keep him quiet, Henry thinks that Charles is going to go to the police and Camilla and Richard are caught in the middle of all the commotion.

Henry ends up shooting himself and after this devastating event, the group completely falls apart. Camilla ends up isolated and caring for her grandmother, Francis is forced into a marriage with a girl he does not care for, Charles stops speaking to Camilla and Richard becomes a lonely academic.

Answer: The Secret History

I know what you're thinking, this has to be a mistake! "The Secret History" is the first novel by the very private author and again, in my opinion, by far the superior of the three novels, but it did not win any awards. "The Goldfinch", in addition to winning the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, also won the 2014 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence for Fiction and the 2014 Malaparte Prize (Italy). "The Little Friend" won the 2003 WH Smith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2003 Orange Prize for Fiction.