"The Lilac Bus" by Maeve Binchy Quiz

Answer: In a health shop

The health shop, which is owned by a young couple, Chris and Karen, has not been doing well. If there is no improvement in sales, the shop will have to close in a few weeks and Judy will become unemployed.

Answer: His friend, Jimmy, is insistent that he do so.

Rupert is the only child of older parents. His father, a former solicitor, is 70 years old and in failing health. All the same, he struggles to hold conversations with his son when he visits. His mother, at 67, is still very much in control and reluctant to have Rupert help her with any household duties.

He has not told his parents that he is gay and is living with another man, Jimmy.

Answer: Her roommate, Mairead, has asked her to move out of the flat they share.

After three years of sharing a flat with her, Mairhead Hely has had enough of Nancy's penny-pinching ways and wants to be rid of her as a roommate. One can only imagine what it would be like living with the type of person who would think of buying only two slices of bacon at the butcher's or who travels to Rathdoon with a large, empty suitcase in the hope that she will be able to fill it with anything that she can scrounge for use in Dublin. Even after she resolves to become less mean, Nancy plans to wrap the free glucose sweets she gets at her workplace as a gift for her mother.

Answer: Their mother is now an alcoholic and is no longer capable of running the family business.

Celia's two brothers, who live in the U.S. and England, have no interest in their mother's alcoholism and the problems that this situation has created. Instead, they write hinting that Celia and their mother are enjoying excessive profits from the business which they are keeping for themselves.

Her sister, a nun in Australia, is unreachable and completely out of the picture. Celia has little choice but to deal with the problem on her own.

Answer: Dee being met by an older man when the bus returns to Dublin

Sometimes when the bus arrives in Dublin on Sunday, keen observer that he is, Tom has seen Dee getting into the car and the arms of an older man. Since Dee has never mentioned this person to anyone in Rathdoon, Tom assumes rightly that Dee wants him kept a secret.

As it happens, Dee is in the throes of an affair with a married doctor, Sam Barry. On the journey to Rathdoon Dee sits next to Nancy Morris and takes the opportunity to extract information about Sam's daily life from her since Nancy works for him. Before the weekend is over, Dee is shocked by her father's revelation that he has known about the affair for some time.

Answer: She plans to sell in Dublin the cannabis she grows secretly in Rathdoon.

People in Rathdoon know something about Judy's tragic past, but not the details of her story. She lost custody of her children to her husband 20 years ago when her drug dealing was discovered by the police. Her husband took the children to America and she has not seen them or heard from them since. Now she will start drug dealing again, using the money to help out the health shop. Of course, the owners of the shop will be kept in the dark about the source of the money.

Judy has only a life interest in the lodge and, therefore, she is not able to sell it.
She is no longer in contact with her brother-in-law in California.

Answer: He is a porter in a bank.

Mike is fond of telling jokes. Unfortunately for him, his off-colour sense of humour is not appreciated in the bank where he works - or on the bus to Rathdoon. As a result, most people tend to shy away from him. He is adored by his family in Rathdoon and they are everything to him. His niece and nephews look forward to his visits and he loves spending time with them.

Answer: Riding her bicycle

Nancy is much too frugal to spend money to take public transit to work. One of her requirements for any new flat is that it must be within cycling distance of the hospital where she works. Surprisingly, she does relent once in a while when she is forced to pay bus fare to go across Dublin to the salon where she gets her hair done for free.

Answer: Doing market surveys in Amsterdam

It seems that Tom is more aware of what he does not want to do or become in life than of what he wants to do. He is certain that he will not join the family business in Rathdoon. He has travelled extensively - to Greece, America, London and to Amsterdam where he worked in a souvenir shop.

He is now working in Dublin. His decision to go into the transport business by driving his friends to and from Rathdoon in his minibus has brought him a great deal of satisfaction.

Answer: He has fallen in with a gang of thieves and is afraid of being caught.

His brothers have good reason to be concerned. Poor Kev found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was his 21st birthday and, to cheer himself up, he took a cigarette break outside the building where he worked. While outside he was unwittingly a witness to a robbery. Afraid for his safety if he should refuse, he agreed to remain quiet about what he had seen and in a short time he was taken in as a member of the gang.

He takes part in some of their illegal activities and accepts money for his work.

He is terrified about being caught and desperately wants to leave the gang but does not see a safe way to do this.

Answer: Tom and Judy

Tom, Judy, Mikey and Kev live by themselves in their own flats. Celia, Dee and Rupert share accommodation with other people. Celia lives in a house with five other nurses, Dee has a flat-mate, Aideen, and Rupert is part-owner of a cottage with his lover, Jimmy.

Answer: Phil

Tom's sister had come to Dublin by train to see Tom and to do some shopping. She became ill and had to be taken to hospital. While recovering from surgery, it was discovered that she was bulimic and so she was transferred to the hospital's psychiatric wing where she remains.

Her doctors are of the opinion that she will not be cured until she is certain of her family's love and appreciation for her. However, her recovery is being delayed by the fact that her mother refuses to have her admitted to a hospital closer to Rathdoon and visits her only once each month in Dublin. Tom even has to force his mother to write a weekly letter to Phil to reassure her that she is a valued member of the family.

Answer: His brother, Billy, has run off with another woman abandoning his family.

Mary came home to discover her husband Billy packing to leave her and their children. He confessed that he had been having an affair with a worker in their take away and that the woman was now pregnant. He gave little thought to the fact that he was leaving Mary to cope with his sick father, their four children and everything else on her own.

After discussing the problem with Mary, Mikey decides that he will continue to visit on weekends and, if his brother has not returned by Christmas, he will give up his life in Dublin and return home to help with the family and the business.

Answer: His brother Bart

Bart is the only person to whom Kev reveals his secret. Bart suggests that all Kev has to do is to tell the ringleader of the gang, Pelican, that he has joined another gang. Bart convinces Kev that he will be able to leave the old gang without injury or hard feelings.

As for the money Kev has made so far, Bart tells him that the family will use it to build a much needed extension to their home in Rathdoon.

Answer: Tom and Celia are going to start dating.

From the narrative it is evident that Tom and Celia have crushes on each other and will start dating. We are told that
(1) Although he never reveals personal information to anyone, Tom entrusts Celia with a family secret. For her part, Celia enjoys talking with Tom and confides in him that her mother has agreed to enter rehab.
(2) Tom had been convinced that Bart and Celia would marry, but is happy to see for himself that they have no interest in each other.
(3) Tom is also pleased and relieved when his mother comments that Bart is not the marrying kind.
(4) Later, in speaking with Celia, he asks her an interesting question - if she would continue to work after marriage.
(5) Celia makes the suggestion and they both agree to go together when Celia visits her mother in rehab and when Tom goes to visit his sister.

Billy Burns transferred most of his assets to Mary before he left her, thus making it quite unlikely that he will ever return.

After 20 years with no contact, no hope is held out that Judy Hickey will ever see her children again.

Dee's discovery through Nancy's chatter that Sam has been lying to her has convinced her that he is a philanderer who has just been using her. After the telephone call she made to him from Ryan's pub, it is clear that as far as both sides are concerned, the affair is over.