Hungerstone Quiz – Test Your Knowledge of Kat Dunn’s Gothic Thriller
Welcome to the Hungerstone quiz. This companion challenges your memory of the novel’s intricate plot, complex characters, and haunting themes. Questions span the entire book, from Lenore’s poisoned pastilles to the final confrontation on the moors. After you finish, check the answer key for detailed explanations.
Looking for more? Read the full book summary, browse questions and answers, or unpack the ending explained.
Plot and Sequence Questions (8 questions)
1. (Multiple choice) What event forces Lenore and Henry to spend their first night at Nethershaw instead of a hotel?
A. A railway strike blocks their train.
B. A storm floods the road and the carriage breaks down.
C. Henry insists on arriving immediately after the carriage crash.
D. A letter from Aunt Daphne summons them.
2. (Short answer) In what year does the novel begin, and what city does Lenore leave?
3. (Multiple choice) Who is the injured woman Henry and Lenore find in the wrecked phaeton?
A. Cora Lamb
B. Carmilla Kernstein
C. A maid from Nethershaw
D. A reporter from Sheffield
4. (Short answer) What object does Lenore find hidden in Henry’s clothes press that makes her suspect he has a secret lover?
5. (Multiple choice) During the shooting party dinner, Lenore exposes the poisoned pastilles by offering one to whom?
A. Henry
B. Cora
C. Detective Inspector Lacey
D. Dr. Bartolomé
6. (Short answer) What does Carmilla do with the pastilles Lenore has been eating, and what does she say about them?
7. (Multiple choice) After Henry threatens Lenore with an asylum, she attacks him on the moor. How does she kill him?
A. She pushes him off a cliff.
B. She stabs him with a letter opener.
C. She bites his throat.
D. She hits him with a rock.
8. (Short answer) After Henry’s death, what story does Lenore tell the men of the shooting party to explain his injuries?
Character Motivation Questions (5 questions)
9. (Multiple choice) Why did Lenore originally marry Henry Crowther?
A. She was in love with him.
B. She needed financial security and social standing after her parents died.
C. Her aunt forced her into the marriage.
D. She wanted to escape a scandal.
10. (Short answer) What does Carmilla mean when she tells Lenore, “You are feeding the wrong hunger”?
11. (Multiple choice) Why does Henry forbid Lenore from calling the police after the carriage crash that brings Carmilla to Nethershaw?
A. He fears the police will discover his factory crimes.
B. He does not want the shooting party delayed.
C. He is secretly protecting Carmilla.
D. He believes Carmilla is a ghost.
12. (Short answer) What childhood trauma does Lenore recall when she sees the injured woman in the phaeton, causing her to faint?
13. (Multiple choice) Why does Lenore let Cora fall from the cliff?
A. She is jealous of Cora’s affair with Henry.
B. She believes Cora is poisoning her.
C. She wants to inherit Cora’s fortune.
D. She is possessed by Carmilla.
Theme and Symbol Questions (4 questions)
14. (Multiple choice) The “hunger” that recurs throughout the novel most directly symbolizes:
A. Physical starvation from lack of food.
B. Unfulfilled desire, longing for agency, and emotional repression.
C. Greed for money and power.
D. A literal craving for human flesh.
15. (Short answer) What does the diamond necklace Lenore finds in Henry’s press represent in the context of their marriage?
16. (Multiple choice) The scene where a farm girl eats a raw hen in the chicken coop echoes which later scene involving a woman eating human flesh?
A. The dinner at Nethershaw.
B. The cottage where a woman fries a man’s leg.
C. The picnic in Sheffield.
D. The supper club with Carmilla.
17. (Short answer) What does the window that opens and closes by itself during Lenore’s dream paralysis suggest about the supernatural in the novel?
Synthesis Questions (3 questions)
18. (Short answer) How does the novel use the historical context of the Sheffield steel industry and the “Outrages” to comment on Lenore’s personal struggle?
19. (Multiple choice) In what way does Carmilla function as both a literal character and a symbolic force in Lenore’s transformation?
A. She is a vampire who drains Lenore’s life.
B. She represents Lenore’s suppressed hunger and desire, while also being a real supernatural being.
C. She is a hallucination caused by arsenic poisoning.
D. She is a ghost from Lenore’s past.
20. (Short answer) Compare Lenore’s relationship with Henry at the beginning and end of the novel. What one key difference marks her ultimate freedom?
Answer Key
1. C – After the carriage crash, Henry refuses a hotel and takes the old carriage to Nethershaw. The storm and injured woman force them to proceed immediately.
2. 1888, London. (Chapter 1 opens on Lenore’s morning in London before the move.)
3. B – Carmilla Kernstein is the woman from the phaeton. (Chapter 2–3)
4. A diamond necklace (not the jet necklace Henry later gives her). (Chapter 4)
5. B – Lenore offers the pastilles to Cora, forcing Henry to intervene. (Chapter 17)
6. Carmilla throws the pastilles out the window and tells Lenore she is “feeding the wrong hunger.” (Chapter 13)
7. C – Lenore bites Henry’s throat, killing him on the moor. (Chapter 25)
8. She claims Henry’s own dogs attacked and killed him, building on the earlier hound attack on a gardener. (Chapter 26)
9. B – Lenore married Henry for security and stability after her parents’ death; it was a marriage of convenience. (Chapter 8)
10. Carmilla means Lenore is using food and pastilles to numb her true desires—hunger for freedom, agency, and passion—instead of addressing them. (Chapter 13)
11. A – Henry fears police involvement will expose his illegal business dealings and the cover-up of Lord Abney’s death. (Chapters 3, 14)
12. Seeing the injured woman triggers her memory of her parents’ carriage accident when she was twelve. (Chapter 2)
13. A – Lenore discovers Cora is having an affair with Henry and has been given the diamond necklace; jealousy and betrayal drive her to let Cora fall. (Chapter 21)
14. B – Hunger symbolizes Lenore’s repressed desires for emotional fulfillment, autonomy, and self-expression. The novel connects literal hunger to deeper longing.
15. It represents Henry’s betrayal, the false performance of their marriage, and the diamond necklace as a bribe or symbol of an affair (given to Cora instead of Lenore).
16. B – The farm girl scene foreshadows the later cottage scene where a woman is frying and eating a man’s leg, both speaking of “terrible hunger.” (Chapters 9, 12)
17. The window opening and closing without human agency blurs the boundary between dream and reality, suggesting Carmilla’s supernatural ability to move through locked spaces and enter Lenore’s mind.
18. The factory workers’ exploitation and the cover-up of deaths mirror Lenore’s own exploitation and silencing within her marriage. Both are systems of control that she eventually breaks free from, using hunger as a metaphor for class and gender oppression.
19. B – Carmilla is a real supernatural entity (likely a vampire) who awakens Lenore’s suppressed desires and hunger. She is both a catalyst and a mirror, not merely a hallucination or ghost.
20. At the start, Lenore performs obedience and suppresses her needs to survive Henry’s control. At the end, she kills him, takes his power, and embraces her own appetites—transforming from passive wife into an active, predatory force. The difference is her willingness to destroy the old order rather than comply.