Touch Not the Cat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Madeira

Bryony describes herself as not particularly well qualified for work. She has obtained her post as a tourist guide and receptionist through family connections. The first chapter also introduces the main theme of the book - her ability to communicate telepathically with the man, as yet unknown to both her (and us), with whom she has fallen in love. From him, she receives a message to tell her that her father needs her - a message that reaches her before the more traditional method of a telephone call.

Answer: Francis

Francis is the youngest of the cousins and is away on a walking holiday for most of the book. The other two are twins, named Emory and James, and their role is much more significant. Bryony believes that one of them must be her 'secret lover', since the 'mind talking' is passed down in the Ashley family, meaning that he must be related to her.

Answer: American

The tenants are Jeff and Stephanie Underhill and their daughter, Cathy. Bryony's cousin Emory has been dating Cathy, and using her to take items from the house to be sold. In time, the house and most of its contents would pass to him anyway - an entail means that the house passes to a male heir, by-passing Bryony herself - but Emory is in financial difficulties and can't wait. Jeff Underhill ensures his daughter is removed from temptation, by moving the family to Paris, as soon as he discovers what has been happening.

Answer: Rob Granger

Rob and Bryony had been at school together, and he is the man she turns to for help and support when she has doubts about the honesty of her cousins. Rob helps around the estate by carrying out maintenance, although there is little ready cash available for the work needed. Most of the wealth of the property is tied up in the house itself.

Answer: Pen

Bryony's father, Jon Ashley, is in Bavaria for health reasons and is knocked down by a car while walking back to the sanatorium where he is staying. The pen is found by his body and, since the initials on it are 'JA', it is given to Bryony with the rest of her father's belongings.

It is only later, when James (also an Ashley, of course) claims the pen as his own that Bryony works out that one of the twins was there. She discovers that the visit to her father had been made to ask him to vary the terms of the trust in which the property is held, since Emory and James are in desperate need of cash.

Answer: New Zealand

Bryony is asleep, worrying about the involvement of James in her father's accident, as she still believes he must be her 'secret lover'. She wakes from a dream about Ninety Mile Beach, and senses that her lover is in her garden. Although it is around 2 a.m., she goes to look for him and their conversation reveals that he has been thinking about New Zealand and that Bryony has tuned in to his thoughts.

She realises that she has been looking in the wrong direction and learns that her father was aware, and approved, of the relationship which, of course, at this stage is a mental, not physical, connection.

Answer: True

The cousins are in Bryony's cottage when she receives a telephone call telling her of a discovery which could change the lives of both her and her cousins. At the very least, it will delay the settlement of her father's will, leaving Emory and James in serious financial difficulties, which might even lead to imprisonment.

The pair decide to create a flood, in which Bryony will drown, apparently accidentally.

Answer: Nick Ashley

From these snippets, we learn of Nick's love for a girl from the village, who meets him in secret. When her brothers learn of his affair, they lie in wait and kill him, before disappearing abroad. Nick has been painted as the black sheep of the family, but it transpires that he was rather more honourable than his descendants had realised, and had married the girl.

The discovery of the truth, though, puts Bryony's life in danger.

Answer: A mosaic

The grounds of the Court include a maze, and Bryony has been left in the centre to meet her doom. She manages to break through a trapdoor into the building above, where her husband finds her. When they wake the next morning, they discover a long forgotten Roman mosaic, which had been hidden under the maze but was now exposed by the flood waters. Bryony is quick to realise that visitors to see the mosaic will bring in funds to help support the estate.

The mosaic itself depicts a leopard, and gives the novel its name.

Answer: False

As the book ends, Bryony's husband is still unaware that he is the legitimate heir, although he has already promised to stay and help sort out the mess left by the flood. Bryony considers the possibility that he might want to abandon their plans to emigrate, but knows him well enough to realise that this will not be his choice and that he will be happy to leave the estate in the hands of her youngest cousin.