40 Fun Facts About The Companions Quartet

In Greek myth, the sirens behind the title Secret of the Sirens lured sailors to their deaths using what?

Their singing was so hard to resist that Odysseus had his crew plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast.

The Gorgon's Gaze is named for monsters of Greek myth whose look turned people into what?

Stone was the fate of anyone who looked at the three Gorgon sisters; in Julia Golding's novel, just one gorgon is left in the world.

In which seaside town does Connie Lionheart go to live with her aunt at the start of the Companions Quartet?

Hescombe is a fictional town in the south of England, and most of the four books take place there.

Connie Lionheart and Col Clamworthy share which unusual physical feature in the Companions Quartet?

Mismatched eyes set both friends apart, and Connie's gift for talking to animals had already seen her moved from school to school.

The Gorgon's Gaze features the last gorgon; which gorgon of Greek myth was beheaded by Perseus?

Medusa was the only mortal one of the three sisters, which is why Perseus could kill her; Stheno and Euryale were immortal.

The monster of Greek myth behind Mines of the Minotaur has a man's body and which animal's head?

A bull supplied the head and tail in the classical picture of the Minotaur, which sits at the centre of many depictions of the Labyrinth.

Col Clamworthy, whose partner is called Skylark, is companion to which species in the Companions Quartet?

Pegasus companions such as Col can also talk to ordinary horses and ponies, and his riding later wins him a place in the British squad.

In the Companions Quartet, the villain Kullervo says humans deserve annihilation for doing what?

Polluting the earth is the charge Kullervo lays against humankind, which gives the villain a real argument and the series its green conscience.

Selkies, a companion species in the Companions Quartet, shift between human form and which animals?

Seals give selkies their name, from the Scots word for the animal; in legend they shed their skins to walk on land as humans.

One companion in The Chimera's Curse bonds with Nemean lions; which Greek hero killed the Nemean lion of myth?

Heracles found that arrows bounced off the lion's golden fur, so he stunned it with his club and strangled it with his bare hands.

Which eccentric aunt takes in Connie Lionheart at the start of Julia Golding's Companions Quartet?

Evelyn turns out to belong to the secret Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures, which is how Connie learns that such creatures are real.

Kullervo, the enemy of the Society in Julia Golding's Companions Quartet, is what kind of being?

A shapeshifter, Kullervo leaves a dark place inside Connie's mind after one encounter and later uses it to reach her.

In Mines of the Minotaur, what does Connie Lionheart unknowingly raise while she is asleep?

Storms rise as she sleeps, and Col finds her on the shore after one; the cause is a mark Kullervo left inside her.

Col's father, a traveller in the Companions Quartet, is companion to which legendary sea monster?

Kraken legends come from Norway and may have begun with sightings of giant squid; Col's father belongs to the Society's Sea Snakes.

Connie's aunt in the Companions Quartet is companion to which spirit from Irish folklore?

Banshee companionship explains some of her odd habits; in folklore the spirit heralds a death in the family by wailing or keening.

In The Chimera's Curse, the chimera has three heads: a lion, a goat and which other creature?

A serpent completes the trio, matching Homer, who described the monster as a lion in front, a goat in the middle and a serpent behind.

On which English moor is a mysterious creature first spotted in The Chimera's Curse?

Dartmoor is where the beast is seen before it attacks and badly wounds Connie; the real moor has been a national park since 1951.

Mines of the Minotaur holds which place in the order of the four Companions Quartet books?

The third book follows Secret of the Sirens and The Gorgon's Gaze, and The Chimera's Curse closes the series.

The Chimera's Curse features Amalthean goats; in Greek myth, Amalthea nursed which infant god?

Zeus was hidden on Crete as a baby and fed by Amalthea, who is a goat in some tellings and a nymph who owns one in others.

In Secret of the Sirens, what kind of business angers the sirens by moving into their waters?

An oil firm is the modern villain of the first book, a shady business that even covers up the deaths of its own employees.

Which golden dragonet is Connie Lionheart's own special companion in the Companions Quartet?

Argand has a golden hide that makes her resistant to fire and heat; Argot and Morjik are dragons bonded to other Society members.

Which woodland, home of the last gorgon, does the Society fight to save in The Gorgon's Gaze?

Mallins Wood shelters the only gorgon left in the world, a secret known to just a handful of people.

In The Gorgon's Gaze, what is due to be built through the ancient forest where the last gorgon lives?

A road through the trees is the plan that unites the Society with local eco-activists, while most townspeople have no idea what lives there.

In The Gorgon's Gaze, the last gorgon is the companion of which member of Col Clamworthy's family?

His mother, Cassandra, is one of the few people who know the gorgon survives, and Kullervo tries to use her to get to Connie.

Which younger brother of Connie Lionheart is a Society member in The Chimera's Curse?

Simon, about two years younger than his sister, is companion to the very creatures that combine to make a chimera.

Julia Golding, author of the Companions Quartet, also wrote which series that opens with The Diamond of Drury Lane?

Cat Royal follows an orphan raised in a London theatre in the 1790s, and its opening book won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize.

Which Society member gets Connie thrown out in Mines of the Minotaur, then helps Kullervo kidnap her?

Ivor Coddrington, newly made a trustee, paints Connie as dangerous to get her expelled; as the Society's assessor he had once tried to deny her entry.

Which great-aunt takes Connie away from her seaside home in The Gorgon's Gaze to keep her from the Society?

Godiva was once a Society member herself, yet now firmly opposes it and denies Connie any contact with mythical creatures.

Which sequel to the Companions Quartet follows George, the youngest universal companion?

Water Thief arrived in 2011 and sends George on his first Society mission with a team that includes a cyclops and a phoenix.

Kullervo, villain of the Companions Quartet, shares his name with a tragic hero of which national epic?

The Kalevala, Finland's national epic, casts Kullervo as an ill-fated figure bent on revenge, and his story went on to influence J. R. R. Tolkien.

In Mines of the Minotaur, what do the creatures hiding in an abandoned mine want from Connie?

To heal them is the plea Connie hears when she stumbles on their abandoned mine, having been thrown out of the Society and avoiding her friends.

George's first mission in the sequel to the Companions Quartet takes him to which island off East Africa?

Zanzibar is where George must find out why local mythical creatures are vanishing; the real island joined Tanganyika in 1964 to form Tanzania.

Secret of the Sirens earned an honor medal from which American prize for young people's writing?

The Green Earth Book Award goes each Earth Day to children's and young adult books that best convey a message of environmental stewardship.

Before writing the Companions Quartet, Julia Golding worked as a British diplomat in which country?

Poland was her Foreign Office posting, and the work took her to the Tatra Mountains and down a Silesian coal mine.

Julia Golding, author of the Companions Quartet, once lobbied the United Nations for which charity?

Oxfam employed her as a lobbyist on conflict issues, campaigning to lessen the impact of war on civilians.

Col's grandmother, Mrs Clamworthy, is companion to which creatures in the Companions Quartet?

Water sprites are her species, and her own companion is one named Issoon; outside the Society she is a typical grandmother.

By The Chimera's Curse, Connie's aunt has married which character, becoming Col's stepmother?

Mack is Col's father, a man who often plays the fool but has a good heart and can get a conversation going anywhere.

Companions Quartet author Julia Golding wrote the Finding Sky trilogy under which pen name?

Joss Stirling is one of two pen names she uses, and a novel written under it, Struck, won Romantic Novel of the Year in 2015.

Mines of the Minotaur borrows a monster from Greek myth; which hero killed the Minotaur of legend?

Theseus found his way back out of the Labyrinth thanks to a ball of thread from Ariadne, daughter of King Minos.

In the opening scene of Secret of the Sirens, Connie Lionheart plays and talks with which birds?

Seagulls are the first sign of the gift that makes her a companion to every mythical creature, not just one species.