Noms De Plume Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anonymous

"Primary Colors" concerned real events connected with the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, and actual people thinly disguised as literary characters. In the book, the presidential candidate is described as being overly flirtatious toward women and prepared to say and do whatever it takes for him to win, ignoring his actual beliefs. Klein was suspected of writing the book from the outset but always denied it when challenged, going so far on one occasion as to say he was willing to skate his journalistic reputation on his denial.

However after six months of denials, he owned up after the "Washington Post" obtained a handwritten manuscript of an early edition of the book and performed a handwriting analysis.

Answer: Sylvia Plath

"The Bell Jar" was the only novel written by poet Plath, and is a very engrossing read, made slightly uncomfortable by the knowledge that she committed suicide just a month after it was published.

Answer: Ruth Rendell

Rendell wrote a total of 24 novels featuring Inspector Wexford before her death in 2015. The first one was "From Doon With Death" and the final one from 2013 was "No Man's Nightingale". She also published many novels that didn't star Wexford as well as 14 novels under the name Barbara Vine.

Answer: Aunt Jane's Nieces

The children in the series of ten books are Louise Merrick, Elizabeth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle, who are the children of Jane's younger brother and sisters. Their aunt, Jane, is a wealthy disabled lady, who in preparation for her death asks each of her nieces to visit her, so that she can decide who to leave her riches to.

Although the books were originally published between 1906 and 1915, there has been a rekindled interest in them and they were reprinted between 2005 and 2007.

Answer: C.S. Lewis

Although he is much better known for "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, Lewis wrote many more non fiction books than fiction, dealing with subject matter such as Christianity, education, and love, as well as his book on bereavement.

Answer: Lestat

Anne Rice, famous for "The Vampire Chronicles" series of books, featuring Lestat, which began in 1976, is the author of this quartet of BDSM fiction. Interestingly, Anne Rice is itself a pen name, but as her parents gave her the normally male names of Howard Allen, perhaps changing it was more than a pen name decision?

Answer: Nicholas Blake

The other three possible choices have all actually held the title of Poet Laureate, but it was under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake that Day-Lewis wrote of the crime solving capabilities of Nigel Strangeways, for a total of 16 novels. Day-Lewis was the father of Oscar winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis and his sister, TV chef Tamasin Day-Lewis.

Answer: Kennilworthy Whisp

The book claims to be a copy of the actual book of the same name as found in Hogwarts' library, and as such is the definitive book on the sport, covering its history and the rules of the game. According to the notes about the author, Whisp is a quidditch expert and lives in Nottinghamshire, although that is my home county and I've never seen him yet.

Answer: The Bronte Sisters

In the 19th century it was quite difficult for female authors to get published and achieve success, and so the sisters adopted noms de plume. In 1846 a volume of poetry was published under the Bell names, Anne as Acton, Charlotte as Currer and Emily as Ellis, Both of Anne's novels, "Agnes Grey" (1847) and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (1848) were originally published under her pen name as was Charlotte's "Jane Eyre"(1847) and Emily's only novel, "Wuthering Heights"(1847).

Answer: Carrie

Richard Bachman was the alter ego of Stephen King, and was constructed by King in an attempt to determine whether his success was due to talent or luck, whether his writing style was good or whether people were buying the book purely because it had the name Stephen King on the cover.

He was outed as Bachman after a bookstore clerk, and avid reader from Washington D.C. noted similarities in the writing and after checking publisher's records at the Library of Congress, found a note which named King as the Bachman author.

After he contacted the publishers with his findings, he received a phone call from King, who suggested the clerk write an article about the unmasking of Bachman. During interviews for the article, King revealed that he was working on the next Bachman book, entitled "Misery" which was eventualy published under King's name in 1987. King has also published under the names John Swithen and Beryl Evans.