No Stone Unturned
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
No Stone Unturned uch of the modern-day action Min No Stone Unturned takes Just some of the places where place in the Warwickshire village of limestone from Wilmcote quarry Wilmcote. Originally a tiny hamlet was used: comprising just a few cottages, Kinwarton Dovecote, near Alcester Wilmcote’s population and size began Ragley Hall, near Alcester No Stone Unturned to grow in the nineteenth century St John the Baptist Church, Aston by Helen Watts when the local limestone, which is Cantlow (A&C Black, ISBN central to the novel and which had Medieval bridge, Bidford-upon- 978-1-4729-0540-6) been extracted via small stone pits Avon for centuries, was first quarried on a Billesley Manor, Billesley www.helenwattsauthor.com large scale. One of the main reasons Houses of Parliament, London for the expansion of the quarry was Royal Courts of Justice, London the arrival of the Stratford-upon- Ann Hathaway’s Cottage, Shottery Avon canal in 1816. The canal ran a Clopton Bridge, Stratford-upon- full 26 miles from Kings Norton in Avon Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, Market Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon passing through Wilmcote close by St Mary’s Church, Warwick the quarrry, and providing a much Mary Arden’s House, Wilmcote easier route by which to transport limestone. Transport connections were further improved when, in he railway accident in No Stone 1860, the Stratford-upon-Avon TUnturned is inspired by a true Railway opened, and we know that event that took place in Wilmcote by 1871 there were 468 people living on the morning of Friday 24th March in Wilmcote village. 1922. Four men were killed while Photo from Windows On Warwickshire, Warwickshiree County Council County Warwickshiree On Warwickshire, Windows from Photo Workers in Wilmcote Quarry in 1905. F A C T S H E E T repairing the railway line a short distance from Wilmcote. They were hit by a northbound light engine which had just passed another southbound goods train near a bend in the track. There were no witnesses, but at the subsequent inquiry, a farm bailiff walking in fields near to the railway cutting testified that he had seen some men packing the ballast on the line without a lookout, and that when the first train passed them, they did Helen Watts by Photograph The joint grave of the four rail accident victims – Edward Sherwood (age 43), not stop working. The jury in Lewis Thomas Washburn (age 41), George Gustavius Booker (age 43) and William the inquest returned a verdict Thomas Bonehill (age 27) – in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Church, Wilmcote. of Accidental Death and no mention of the terrible accident ‘because of the funeral of those Commission. The winner that took the men’s lives is parents killed in the railway was chosen in January 1836 made on their headstone. accident’. – a magnificent Gothic-style However, at their funeral, a building by the 40-year-old special train was laid on to carry n 1834, the Houses of architect Sir Charles Barry, their bodies and more than 200 IParliament were almost who would choose Wilmcote railway workers joined the many completely destroyed by a stone for its flooring. Born in local people who came out to massive fire started by a stove 1795, Barry was known for his pay their respects. According overheating in the House of love of Italianate architecture, to its log book for 29th March Lords. Ninety-seven designs for and designed many country 1922, the village school also a new Palace of Westminster houses and gardens and public closed for the afternoon were submitted to a Royal buildings in Britain, including the north terrace of Trafalgar Square and its two fountain basins. For help with his drawings and with the execution of the interior design on the project, Barry teamed up with architect and draughtsman, Augustus Pugin (1812–1852). Saldy, Pugin suffered a mental breakdown and spent time in an asylum for the insane, dying soon after. Barry faced numerous setbacks during the project and overran on time and budget. The strain took its toll. After repeated bouts of illness, Photograph by Helen Watts by Photograph Barry died of a heart attack on The Mary Arden Inn dominates Wilmcote’s village green today. However, the inn 12th May 1860. The Palace of did not exist in 1839 when Sir Charles Barry stayed there in No Stone Unturned. The building was originally a private residence and did not become an inn until around Westminster was not complete 1870, when it was known as the Swan Inn. for another ten years. No Stone Unturned Helen Watts (A&C Black, ISBN 978-1-4729-0540-6) 1. No Stone Unturned takes the reader back and forth in time. Why do you think the author chose to do this? Do you think it is effective as a storytelling technique? 2. In Chapter 2, Kelly thinks back to a conversation she had with her father not long after she started attending the Shakespeare Academy in which she told him, “You need to let me do this my way. I have to try to fit in, do what everyone else does.” a) Why do you think she said this? b) Does she stick to this approach throughout her first year? c) Contrast how Kelly felt about school in Year 7 with the way she feels about school by the end of Year 8 when she is on her trip to the Houses of Parliament. 3. At the end of Chapter 19 (page 140), Kelly tells Leanne, “I happen to like different”. Discuss the ways in which Kelly Hearn is ‘different’. 4. Tyson is only a little dog but he has a big part to play in Kelly’s adventures. Do you agree with this statement? Why/why not? 5. Do you think that Alice Denton loved her husband, William? 6. Contrast and compare the two father-daughter relationships explored in the novel – ie, Kelly and Joe Hearn, and Alice Denton and Reverend Frederick Knott. 7. Do you think the author portrays Sir Charles Barry as a good man? Why/why not? 8. In Chapter 17, when Kelly and Ben are exploring the abandoned shed, Kelly notices how Ben’s moods seem to blow from hot to cold and how one minute he is happy to help her with her research, the next he clams up. Considering what you know about Ben by the end of the novel, can you explain how and why his moods change as they do? 9. Discuss how the author reveals Ben’s true identity. Was the final revelation a suprise to you? What clues did the author give the reader throughout the story? 10. In her Author’s Note, Helen Watts reveals which true events inspired the novel and how she changed some historical details to create her story. Do you think she was right to do so and what impact does TALKINGblending POINTSfact with fiction have on you as a reader?.