Starling House: Full-Book Quiz
Test your knowledge of Alix E. Harrow’s Starling House with this 20-question quiz. Questions span the entire book: plot events, character motivations, themes and symbols, and synthesis. Answers with explanations are at the end.
Questions
1. (Plot) What does Opal cut her hand on when she first approaches Starling House?
A) A broken window
B) The iron gate
C) A rusty nail
D) A Beast’s claw
2. (Plot) Who hires Opal as a housekeeper at Starling House?
A) Elizabeth Baine
B) Arthur Starling
C) Beverly
D) Eleanor Starling
3. (Plot) What book in the library does Opal find annotated by E. Starling?
A) A bestiary
B) An Ovid collection
C) A letter from Arthur’s mother
D) A map of Underland
4. (Plot) What is the name of the consulting group that approaches Opal about the Starling property?
A) Gravely Power
B) Innovative Solutions Consulting Group
C) Stonewood Academy
D) The Underland Society
5. (Plot) How does Opal learn that her mother was a Gravely?
A) Arthur tells her
B) She finds a photo in a Gravely family album
C) Bev admits it
D) Elizabeth Baine shows her a birth certificate
6. (Plot) In Underland, Opal meets the creator of the Beasts. Who is it?
A) John Gravely
B) Eleanor Starling
C) Nathaniel Boone
D) The Beast
7. (Plot) What does Opal do to officially become the new Warden?
A) She drinks from the river of dreams
B) She performs a blood oath with the Starling sword
C) She kills a Beast
D) She marries Arthur
8. (Plot) Who secretly pays for Jasper’s full tuition at Stonewood Academy?
A) Elizabeth Baine
B) Arthur Starling
C) Beverly
D) Don Gravely
9. (Character Motivation) Why does Arthur change his mind and offer Opal a job after initially rejecting her?
A) He sees her bravery in facing the House
B) He notices a curl of her hair that triggers guilt and grief
C) She offers to work for free
D) The House demands it
10. (Character Motivation) Why does Arthur swear to be the last Warden of Starling House?
A) He hates the House and wants it to die
B) He saw the cost of his cowardice when his parents died
C) He wants to sell the land to Gravely Power
D) He believes no one else is worthy
11. (Character Motivation) Why does Opal agree to spy for Elizabeth Baine?
A) For the money
B) Because Baine threatens Jasper’s safety
C) She wants to destroy Starling House
D) She is blackmailed with her mother’s accident
12. (Character Motivation) Why does Eleanor Starling create the Beasts?
A) To protect the House from intruders
B) They are manifestations of her own nightmares from the river of dreams
C) To kill the Gravely brothers
D) To guard the treasure
13. (Character Motivation) Why does Opal refuse Charlotte’s offer to leave Eden?
A) She wants to save Starling House
B) She feels duty to Jasper and her Gravely identity
C) She loves Arthur
D) She has no money to leave
14. (Theme/Symbol) What does the copper penny represent in the story?
A) Greed and corruption
B) Luck and protection
C) The curse of the Starlings
D) The key to Underland
15. (Theme/Symbol) What does the recurring mist in Eden symbolize?
A) The town’s ignorance of the past
B) The presence of Beasts and the curse
C) Industrial pollution from Gravely Power
D) The river’s flooding
16. (Theme/Symbol) What does Starling House itself represent to the characters?
A) A prison that traps its inhabitants
B) Both a home and a burden
C) A treasure to be exploited
D) A grave for the dead
17. (Theme/Symbol) What does the act of writing stories symbolize for Opal?
A) Escape from reality
B) Truth, agency, and reclaiming her identity
C) Lying to protect Jasper
D) A job to pay bills
18. (Synthesis) How does the legend of Eleanor Starling parallel Opal’s own journey?
A) Both are abused by Gravely men
B) Both become Wardens and reshape Underland
C) Both die in the river
D) Both write books about Starling House
19. (Synthesis) In what way does Starling House itself act as a character?
A) It communicates through dreams
B) It changes its layout and feels emotions
C) It chooses its Wardens
D) All of the above
20. (Synthesis) What is the significance of Opal dreaming of Starling House before she ever sees it?
A) It was a coincidence
B) The house sent dreams to attract a new Warden
C) She was cursed by the Gravely bloodline
D) She was remembering a past life
Answer Key
1. B – Opal cuts her hand on the iron gate in Chapter Two. The gate is the first sign of the House’s supernatural power.
2. B – Arthur Starling, the heir, grudgingly hires Opal in Chapter Three after seeing a curl of her hair.
3. B – In the library (Chapter Seven), Opal finds an old Ovid volume with E. Starling’s handwritten notes in the margin.
4. B – Elizabeth Baine represents Innovative Solutions Consulting Group, working for Gravely Power (Chapter Eight).
5. B – Charlotte gives Opal a Gravely family album; Opal finds a photo of her mother labeled “Delilah Jewell Gravely, 16” (Chapter Fifteen).
6. B – Eleanor Starling appears in Underland’s version of the House and explains she created the Beasts from her nightmares (Chapter Thirty).
7. B – In Chapter Twenty-Seven, Opal performs a blood oath with the Starling sword, becoming the new Warden.
8. B – Arthur sends a full payment to Stonewood Academy without telling Opal (Chapter Twenty).
9. B – Arthur sees a curl of Opal’s hair, which reminds him of his mother and shifts his expression to guilt and grief (Chapter Three).
10. B – After his parents died in 2007, Arthur blamed his own weakness and swore he would be the last Warden (Chapter Sixteen).
11. B – Elizabeth Baine threatens Jasper’s safety (and later uses Opal’s Guardianship case) to force her cooperation (Chapter Ten).
12. B – Eleanor tells Opal that the Beasts are “manifestations of her own nightmares, born from the river of dreams” (Chapter Thirty).
13. B – Opal refuses Charlotte’s offer because she feels responsible for Jasper and now identifies as a Gravely, tied to Eden (Chapter Nineteen).
14. B – Opal gives Jasper a copper penny for luck (Chapter Thirteen); it symbolizes hope and protection.
15. B – The mist rises when Beasts are active; it is a physical sign of the curse and the rift to Underland.
16. B – For Arthur and Opal, the House is both a beloved home and a crushing duty. Past Wardens felt the same.
17. B – Opal rediscovers her love of writing; by the end she plans to tell the true story of Starling House, reclaiming her agency.
18. B – Eleanor built Starling House and ruled Underland; Opal becomes Warden, reshapes Underland, and chooses mercy over vengeance.
19. D – The House sends dreams, alters its layout, feels emotions, and selects/communicates with Wardens throughout the novel.
20. B – The House calls lonely, desperate people through dreams to become the next Warden. Opal’s dreams are the same summons.
For more discussions about Starling House, visit the book page, the questions and answers board, or the ending explained guide.