50 Fun Facts About Chains

Wanted by the Patriots, how does Elihu Lockton slip out of New York in the novel Chains?

Inside a cheese crate is how Lockton leaves: a man nails him into a box labelled as cheese, while his wife is told to stay behind and guard the house.

In Chains, Isabel's cheek is branded with the letter I as a court's punishment for which offence?

Insolence is the charge Madam Lockton asks the judge to burn into Isabel's face. By the end of the novel Isabel decides the letter stands for her own name instead.

In Chains, Isabel overhears Lockton and the mayor plotting to kill which Continental Army general?

George Washington was the target of a real conspiracy in New York in June 1776, and a soldier from his own guard was hanged for his part in it.

Which pamphlet by Thomas Paine does a New York stationer secretly give Isabel to read in Chains?

Common Sense, Paine's case for breaking with Britain, is slipped to Isabel just before Christmas. She has to read its first sentence four times before she understands it.

From which New England colony are Isabel and Ruth taken before being shipped to New York in Chains?

Rhode Island is the home Isabel spends the whole novel trying to get back to. The voyage from its port of Newport takes two days, spent below deck with the livestock.

In Chains, Isabel pretends Curzon has died so she can smuggle him out of prison in what?

A wheelbarrow carries the feverish Curzon out past the guards and down to the wharf, where Isabel helps him into a rowboat as fireworks go off over the river.

Which medical condition of Ruth's does Madam Lockton mistake for possession by the devil in Chains?

Epilepsy causes the fits that terrify Madam, who beats the five-year-old with a broom and orders her kept away from the milk in case it curdles.

In Chains, what are the false eyebrows made of that Madam Lockton wears to her victory banquet?

Mouse fur brows prove a poor choice: as the dining room warms up the glue melts, and one of Madam's eyebrows drops into her rice pudding during a toast.

In Chains, a New York crowd topples and hacks apart a gilded lead statue of which British king?

George III sat on horseback on Bowling Green in Roman dress. When the crowd pulls him down, Isabel sees the gold is only a skin over lead and pockets a small piece.

At the end of Chains, where do Isabel and Curzon come ashore after she rows them away from Manhattan?

New Jersey is where the stolen rowboat drifts into the bushes. Isabel wakes before dawn, coated in ice, and sees New York behind her across the river.

Which document is read from the steps of City Hall in Chains just before a royal statue is toppled?

The Declaration of Independence changes New York overnight: days later the judge at Isabel's trial has to be corrected that he now sits in a state, not a colony.

Which real soldier's hanging do Isabel and Ruth watch in Chains after the assassination plot fails?

Thomas Hickey, a guard to the army's commander, was hanged on 28 June 1776 before a crowd of some 20,000, the first Continental soldier executed for mutiny and sedition.

In which New York prison is Curzon held with other captured American soldiers in Chains?

The Bridewell stood where City Hall Park is today. Isabel talks her way in by tempting its guard with rice pudding and finds Curzon shot in the leg.

Isabel escapes in Chains on the night of a grand ball honouring which British queen's birthday?

Queen Charlotte never attends, of course: the ball is held in her honour by occupied New York. Isabel dates her home-made pass 18 January and adopts the day as her own birthday.

Which surname does Isabel invent when she writes herself a pass as a free woman in Chains?

Gardener is the name she settles on while thinking of home and of Ruth, having decided she is neither a Lockton nor a Finch.

Declaring Isabel a ridiculous name, what does Madam Lockton rename her new servant in Chains?

Sal Lockton is the name forced on her. Months later she tells a Patriot captain she is Sal with no last name, because Lockton tastes foul in her mouth.

In Chains, Madam Lockton admits Ruth was never sold but sent to the family estate in which city?

Charleston is hundreds of miles to the south, but Isabel decides she can walk there, and the news that Ruth is alive is what drives her to run that same night.

Where does Madam Lockton have Isabel locked up on the night of the Queen's birthday ball in Chains?

The potato bin fails to hold her: once the house falls quiet, Isabel kicks at the boards until she finds wood softened by rain and breaks through.

What keepsake of her late mother's does Isabel manage to carry to New York in Chains?

A handful of seeds is all Isabel can take, since nothing else is legally hers. She has no idea what they will grow into, and the plants later die in the frost.

After Ruth's rag doll is left behind, Isabel makes her a new one in Chains out of what?

Cornhusks make the doll Ruth clutches everywhere, even at a public hanging. After her sister is taken, Isabel keeps it and sleeps with it beside her head.

Which disease killed Isabel's mother a year before Chains begins?

Smallpox took Momma and left both her daughters covered in scars. Isabel had to bury her without knowing the proper rites and fears her mother's ghost is angry about it.

Which biblical river does Grandfather tell Isabel to look for as her way to freedom in Chains?

The Jordan, Grandfather says, is whatever stands between a person and freedom. On the novel's last page Isabel tells Curzon they have just crossed it.

Where does Isabel queue daily for the Locktons' drinking supply and hear the war gossip in Chains?

The Tea Water Pump is a mile's walk from the house, but wealthy families insist on it because it tastes best, so the line of servants doubles as a news exchange.

Which German troops hired by Britain are quartered a dozen strong in Lady Seymour's house in Chains?

Hessians frighten Isabel at first, since rumour says they breathe fire, but Lady Seymour points out they are just men far from home who are fond of her cat.

Which language is the only one spoken by Lady Seymour's maid Angelika, who nurses Isabel in Chains?

Dutch is Angelika's only tongue, so the two get by on smiles while she draws the injured Isabel a hot bath after six days of fever.

To which Patriot officer does Isabel carry the stolen list of plotters' names in Chains?

Regan promises to help the sisters get home in return, yet when Isabel later runs to him for protection he says he must follow the rules and lets Madam Lockton reclaim her.

Curzon enlists in the Patriot army in Chains as a substitute for which man, his enslaver?

Master Bellingham promises Curzon his freedom for serving in his place, a bargain the other enslaved men of the city openly laugh at.

Which tavern keeper's wife, once indentured with Isabel's mother, tries to buy the girls in Chains?

Jenny makes the unheard-of offer to buy the girls herself for cash, but Madam Lockton calls them a bargain at twice the asking price and Jenny cannot match her.

Which August 1776 battle, the largest of the war, lets the British take New York in Chains?

Long Island was a heavy Patriot defeat, but in the novel fog covers the survivors as they are ferried across the river overnight, which Becky takes as a sign of God's favour.

News of which surprise victory on 26 December 1776 does Isabel smuggle into the prison in Chains?

Trenton fell after a night crossing of the Delaware River. In the novel the news reaches the captives as a note baked into a loaf, and minutes later cheers erupt from the cells.

Which disaster of September 1776 forces Isabel to drag Lady Seymour to safety in Chains?

A great fire destroys about 500 homes in the novel's account, and no church bells ring the alarm because they have been melted down to make cannons.

Which formerly enslaved Boston poet's book does Isabel find in a stationer's shop in Chains?

Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped in Africa as a child and freed once her poems made her famous, a story Isabel's mother used to tell her.

Which shipwreck tale does Isabel sneak from Lockton's library to read after midnight in Chains?

Robinson Crusoe is the book she longs to borrow again months later, when she is struggling line by line through a far harder text.

Why do Patriot soldiers strip the lead from the windows of the Lockton house in Chains?

To make bullets, their leader explains, adding that a patriot like Lockton should be honoured to give. The men leave the ground-floor windows out when they go upstairs.

Where does Elihu Lockton hide the money meant to bribe rebel soldiers into changing sides in Chains?

In a linen chest that his wife sits on at the dock to stop it being inspected. When soldiers do open it later, a false bottom hides the cash beneath dirty underclothes.

What does Madam Lockton grab off the wall to strike Isabel with on the stairs in Chains?

A painting from the row of Madam's dead ancestors comes down on Isabel and draws blood, and Becky, holding the front door open, tells her to run.

Why does British Captain Campbell turn Isabel away when she offers to work for his army in Chains?

Her owners back the King, and the British offer of freedom covers only people fleeing rebel masters. Campbell adds quietly that he does not believe in slavery but cannot help.

Which treat does Madam Lockton bake herself and serve Isabel on the night Ruth is taken in Chains?

Gingerbread with spiced milk is an unheard-of kindness from Madam, and the milk probably held a sleeping potion: Isabel wakes in the cellar to find her sister gone.

Which dessert does Isabel bake on Christmas night and carry to a homeless family in Chains?

Bread pudding, sweetened with maple syrup, was her mother's Christmas tradition. Giving it to a family living under canvas leaves Isabel at peace for the first time in months.

Which sequel to Chains, published in 2010, is the second novel in Laurie Halse Anderson's trilogy?

Forge earned three starred reviews on release, and readers then had to wait six more years for the trilogy's final book.

Which earlier novel by the author of Chains became a 2004 film starring Kristen Stewart?

Speak follows a high-school freshman who almost stops talking after a summer party. It is still the author's best-known book and has been translated into 16 languages.

Which American prize for historical fiction for young readers did Chains win in 2009?

The Scott O'Dell Award was set up in 1982 by the author of Island of the Blue Dolphins, who hoped it would draw young readers to the history that shaped their world.

Chains was a 2008 finalist in the Young People's Literature category of which major American prize?

The National Book Award has had a Young People's Literature category only since 1996, and five finalists are named each October before one winner is chosen.

Which royal governor of Virginia is said in Chains to free enslaved people who run to join him?

Lord Dunmore made the offer in November 1775, and between 800 and 2,000 people escaped to enlist with him. One sceptic in the novel says he only meant to ruin Virginia's crops.

Which delicacy headlines the supper Madam Lockton throws to celebrate a British victory in Chains?

Turtle soup means crates of turtles arriving before dawn and a cook hired in from a well-known tavern. Isabel quietly saves the table scraps for the hungry captives.

At which Anglican church in New York do the Locktons and Isabel attend Sunday services in Chains?

Trinity is where a boy bursts in mid-sermon to shout that British ships have sailed into the harbour. By then nearly everyone left in the pews is a Loyalist.

In which punishment device is Isabel held in the courtyard while she is branded in Chains?

The stocks nearly kill her. She has caught a fever in the dungeon under City Hall, and Curzon runs to fetch Lady Seymour, who has her carried home to recover.

Which nickname does Curzon call Isabel in Chains from their first day running errands together?

Country is his label for a newcomer just off the boat. On their first walk across town he complains that girls like her are slow and annoying.

On which Caribbean island does Madam Lockton first claim Ruth has been sold as a maid in Chains?

Nevis, Becky reports, is where Ruth will keep house for a physician's family. Isabel calls her mistress a spiteful liar and storms off to confront her.

What does Lady Seymour give Isabel on Christmas morning in Chains, while Madam gives her nothing?

New shoes that finally fit replace the too-small pair Isabel has been squeezing into. The soldiers' wives get money from Madam the same morning.