The Watchmaker of Filigree Street Quiz

Answer: In the Home Office telegraphy department as a telegraphist

Thaniel sent and recieved telegraphs on behalf of the Home Office. That was until Fanshaw recruited him for the Foreign Office instead. His reasoning was that Thaniel knew Japanese, even though he barely understood any of the language at the time. Thaniel learned to speak Japanese while he lived with Mori in Filigree Street.

Answer: Late Victorian period

The novel opened in London in 1883 and ended a year later in 1884. Throughout the novel there are hints of the Victorian era, so it would be easy enough to guess the setting, even without the years written beneath the chapter numbers. At the start of the novel, Thaniel had a packet of Lipton's in his desk, which was a tea company that began in the 19th century.

Other nods to the 19th century are the use of shillings and farthings, and the Japanese Village in Knightsbridge.

Answer: A gold pocketwatch

The pocketwatch was in a velvet box tied up with a white ribbon, and had a tag with Thaniel's name on it. At first it wouldn't open. Thaniel was intrigued by the watch and assumed that it was a birthday present from his sister. He became suspicious, however, when a Clan na Gael bomb exploded the next day. Near the end of the novel, Thaniel found out that Mori had left the watch for him.

He set a timer for it to open to intrigue Thaniel, and set an alarm to go off to save him from a subsequent explosion.

Answer: The movement of ether

Grace tried to describe ether to Matsumoto when he walked in on her experiment. She explained that as sound moves through air, light - in theory - moves through ether. Grace was trying to prove the existence of ether. According to the story, ether could explain how ghosts could exist, or how real mediums could work.

Answer: Octopus

Unlike a real animal, it didn't make decisions because it had random gears that allowed it to move and act randomly. Although it was limited by its gears, Mori didn't know what 'decisions' it would make.

Mori invented a variety of things which Thaniel thought were created for futures that hadn't come about. He gave Thaniel a set of vials as an early wedding present. Each one contained a different weather condition for use on the day.

Answer: Grace wanted her aunt's house.

A house had been left to Grace in a will, except she couldn't have it. It was actually left to Grace's husband upon her marriage. The life of a wife, however, was not how Grace envisioned her future: her passion was science. The house had a large cellar which she wanted to convert into a laboratory. Thaniel agreed to marry her, despite the huge social class gap between them (which her father hated).

The deal allowed Grace to get her lab and Thaniel's nephews could go to a good school with his new wife's money.

Answer: The fire at Buckingham Palace

Thaniel was in a pub opposite Scotland Yard just before the bomb that was planted in the police headquarters exploded. The watch that had been left in his flat the day before suddenly sounded an alarm. Unable to turn it off, Thaniel went out into the alley. As he got out into the open, the alarm turned off. He was just about to head back inside when the bomb went off, causing damage in the pub across the street as well. Thaniel was protected from the blast in the alley. In the end, he found out Mori had planted the watch, so that Thaniel would be outside at the time of the explosion.

Before moving to London, Mori had saved Ito from numerous assassination attempts. He also told Thaniel that he and Grace would have a baby, but that future didn't happen in the end.

Answer: He could see sounds.

Thaniel could see different sounds as different colours. One morning, the silence in his bedroom had a 'silver hem', and rain on the ground created a 'prism of colours'. This phenomenon is called synesthesia, where stimulating one sense results in the involuntary stimulation of another one, too. Sometimes Thaniel enjoyed seeing sounds, such as when he played the piano.

At other times, however, he found it irritating or overwhelming.

Answer: Ireland

Clan na Gael were a real nationalist organisation who operated at a time when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Clan na Gael violently opposed the union and wanted Ireland to be independent. In 'The Watchmaker of Filigree Street', the group threatened Spindle, another watchmaker, to make clockwork bombs using parts made by Mori.

The police were convinced Mori was behind the terrorist attacks, but they couldn't find any conclusive proof. Although Mori knew who made the bomb, he couldn't inform the police because he, too, had no actual proof.

Answer: A heavy-duty bolt

An award ceremony was held in London in honour of Thaniel. Matsumoto was on a train crossing Europe from Paris to Berlin when it 'blew a piston'. Instead of continuing on to Berlin, the train returned to Paris, where Matsumoto found out about Thaniel's award. Thinking he and Grace were still married, Matsumoto returned to London for the ceremony.

When Grace told him that they were no longer together, Matsumoto invited her to live with his family in Japan. Grace then looked at Mori, who was throwing a bolt into the air.