Quiz Small Angels Lauren Owen

Small Angels Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes

How to Use This Quiz {#how-to-use-this-quiz}

This quiz covers the full arc of Small Angels, from the village customs of Mockbeggar to the final confrontation at the Rose House. Questions are grouped into four sections: plot and sequence, character motivation, theme and symbol, and synthesis. Each question is grounded in the events of the novel as they unfold across the chapters.

If you get stuck, you can review the chapter-by-chapter summary or jump to the ending explained before checking your answers.

Part One: Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8) {#part-one-plot-and-sequence}

1. Multiple choice. In the old village custom, what happened to stories told at dusk in December?

  • A) They were written into a parish ledger kept at Small Angels

  • B) They could be carried up the hill and whispered to the trees

  • C) They were told only at funerals for the dead

  • D) They were forbidden by the church as superstition

2. Multiple choice. What does Chloe remove from the tree stump inside the ruined house in Mockbeggar?

  • A) A carved wooden boat

  • B) Three copper coins

  • C) A clasp knife marked HC

  • D) A bundle of dried rose petals

3. Multiple choice. What causes Kate and Chloe's car to crash during their escape from Small Angels?

  • A) A fallen tree blocking the road

  • B) The white dogs attacking the vehicle

  • C) A deer crossing their path

  • D) Harry Child appearing in the road

4. Multiple choice. What does Lucia do to draw Harry Child away from Kate and Chloe?

  • A) She burns the Rose House to the ground

  • B) She rings the bells of Small Angels

  • C) She lights beacons at Blanch Farm

  • D) She sings the Gonne family song

5. Short answer. What object does Kate throw to knock Elphine's plastic bag kite down from a tree?

6. Multiple choice. Which of the following is not among the relics Lucia finds in Fred Hart's coat?

  • A) Conkers

  • B) A deck of cards

  • C) A silver locket

  • D) A clasp knife marked HC

7. Short answer. What happens to Harry Child when Lucia tells his story differently, showing him that Fred loved him?

8. Multiple choice. In Chapter Eighteen, the narrator reveals that it was buried by Fred Hart and bound into what?

  • A) The walls of Small Angels

  • B) Rose shoots across Mockbeggar

  • C) The bed of the Fane river

  • D) The roots of the Dervish tree

Part Two: Character Motivation (Questions 9–13) {#part-two-character-motivation}

9. Multiple choice. Why does Chloe book Small Angels as her wedding venue?

  • A) It was the only available church in the area

  • B) She discovered it by accident and was charmed by it

  • C) Sam's family recommended it to her

  • D) It was cheaper than the original venue

10. Multiple choice. Why does Lucia cross the Fane river at the forbidden spot as a child?

  • A) She was dared by her sisters

  • B) She was in disgrace after Nan caught her writing a new verse to the family song

  • C) She wanted to find the Dervish tree

  • D) She was following a deer into the woods

11. Multiple choice. Why does Kate agree to help with Sam's wedding despite her reluctance?

  • A) She wants to reconcile with Lucia

  • B) Sam asks her to tell him things will be all right, as she did in childhood

  • C) She wants to see Small Angels again

  • D) Birdie pressures her into it

12. Multiple choice. Why does Lucia offer to stay with Harry Child forever?

  • A) She wants to escape her family's control

  • B) She hopes to gain power over the woods

  • C) She offers herself in exchange for Kate's release

  • D) She believes it will restore the vineyard

13. Multiple choice. Why does Sam run in the opposite direction from Chloe during the wedding escape?

  • A) He is trying to find help

  • B) He is fleeing in panic

  • C) He runs to draw the creature away from Chloe

  • D) He is chasing the white dogs

Part Three: Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17) {#part-three-theme-and-symbol}

14. Multiple choice. What do the copper coins hammered into the tree represent?

  • A) A wedding offering to the woods

  • B) A protective charm against Mockbeggar

  • C) A ritual attempt to prevent the rose tree from regrowing

  • D) A tribute to the dead of the village

15. Multiple choice. What does the rose tree at the Rose House symbolize?

  • A) The natural beauty of the woods

  • B) Harry Child's story and power, bound into the landscape

  • C) The Gonne family's prosperity

  • D) The love between Kate and Lucia

16. Multiple choice. What do the bells of Small Angels symbolize in the novel?

  • A) A call to worship for the village

  • B) A summoning ritual that can draw Harry Child's attention

  • C) A celebration of weddings and births

  • D) A warning to keep villagers out of the woods

17. Multiple choice. What does Elphine's plastic bag kite represent?

  • A) The sisters' childhood and lost magic

  • B) Pollution creeping into the woods

  • C) Kate's broken promises to Lucia

  • D) The family's poverty and neglect

Part Four: Synthesis (Questions 18–20) {#part-four-synthesis}

18. Short answer. How does the novel present storytelling as both a danger and a remedy?

19. Short answer. What is the broken pledge, and what consequences follow from it?

20. Short answer. How does the novel resolve the tension between secrecy and community knowledge?

Answer Key {#answer-key}

Plot and Sequence

  1. B. The custom held that stories told at dusk in December could be carried up the hill and whispered to the trees, which remembered and listened. 2. B. Chloe removes three copper coins from the tree stump, an act that wakes Harry Child and sets the novel's crisis in motion. 3. C. A panicked deer crosses their path; Kate swerves to avoid it and crashes into a tree in the woods. 4. B. Lucia rings the bells of Small Angels for the first time in ten years, drawing Harry's attention away from Kate and Chloe. 5. A stone. Kate throws a stone to knock the kite down from the tree. 6. C. The relics include conkers, a deck of cards, a carved wooden boat, marbles, a pencil stub, and a clasp knife marked HC—but no silver locket. 7. He changes, warns Lucia to run, and then disappears. When Lucia tells his story differently, showing him that Fred loved him, Harry remembers his brother's kindness and vanishes, leaving Lucia alone in the woods. 8. B. The narrator reveals it was buried by Fred Hart, found by the trees, and bound into rose shoots across Mockbeggar.

Character Motivation

  1. B. Chloe discovered Small Angels by accident on a bike ride and was charmed by it; she booked it after the original church fell through. 10. B. Nan caught Lucia writing a new verse to comfort Elphine and locked her in her room; in disgrace, Lucia crossed the Fane at the forbidden spot. 11. B. Sam asks Kate to tell him things will be all right, echoing their childhood ritual of hiding under the bed and sketching anodyne futures. 12. C. Lucia offers to stay with Harry if he releases Kate, a self-sacrifice that ultimately leads to Harry's transformation. 13. C. Sam runs in the opposite direction to draw the creature's hunting instincts away from Chloe, buying her time to escape.

Theme and Symbol

  1. C. The Gonne sisters hammered copper coins into the tree to prevent regrowth after their attempt to destroy the ghost of the Rose House went wrong. 15. B. The rose tree embodies Harry Child's story and power, bound into the landscape of Mockbeggar; when the roses spread, Harry grows stronger. 16. B. The bells are a summoning ritual, the way the Gonnes called Harry in the old days; ringing them draws his attention and can turn him back. 17. A. The plastic bag kite belongs to Elphine and represents the sisters' shared childhood and the lost magic of their time in the woods.

Synthesis

  1. Model answer. Stories in Small Angels can take possession of the teller—Harry's story nearly kills Lucia when it floods through her—but they can also be rewritten. Lucia frees Harry by telling his story differently, showing him that Fred loved him, which transforms the narrative that had trapped him for two centuries. The novel suggests that the same story can imprison or liberate depending on how it is told. 19. Model answer. The broken pledge refers to the Gonne sisters' attempt to destroy the ghost of the Rose House, which went terribly wrong. They hammered copper coins into the tree to prevent regrowth, but the roses spread throughout the woods, Harry grew stronger, and the broken promise means no one knows what will happen next. The pledge's failure sets up the novel's climax and forces the sisters to find another way. 20. Model answer. After the wedding attack, Kate proposes telling the village about Mockbeggar, and the Gonnes agree. They address the village at the Albatross, offering fruit and flowers, and Brian prepares to tell the story openly. The novel resolves the tension by showing that shared knowledge—rather than the Gonnes' decades of silent burden—is what allows the community to heal and the past to stop haunting the present.

Want to dig deeper? Visit the questions and answers page for more discussion, or read the ending explained for a close look at the final chapters.

Published by What Happened?

How this guide was made Report an error