Literary Luminary

"Its a lot to think about, but I'm at the river's edge now. Pippa's pale face pushes up against the ice, her loose, dark curls spreading out underneath the surface. I use a rock to break through. Water rushes up through the cracks. To pull her out, I have to plunge my hand into that murky, forbidden river. Its warm as a bath. Inviting and calm. I'm tempted to submerge myself in that water, but not yet. I've got hold of Pippa's hand and I'm pulling with all my might, yanking her free of the wright of the water, till shes on the bank. She sputters and coughs, vomits river water onto the grass.
"Pippa? Pippa!" Shes so pale and cold. There are great dark circles beneath her eyes.
"Pip, I've come to take you back."
Those violent eyes open.
"Back." She turns the word over softly, glances longingly at the river, whose secrets I both want to know and want to keep far from me, for now. "What will happen to me?"
I have no more magic left for lies. "I don't know."
"Mrs. Bartleby Bumble, then?"
I say nothing. She strokes the side of my face with her cold, wet hand and I already know what shes thinking, not because its magic but because she is my friend and I love her.
"Please, Pip," I say, and stop because I'm starting to cry a little. "You have to come back. You just have to."
"Have to...my whole life has been that."
"It could change..."
She shakes her head. "I'm not a fighter. Not like you." In the winter-brittle grass, she finds a small handful of shriveled berries, no bigger than seeds. They rest in her palm like coins.
My throat aches. "But if you eat them..."
"What was it Miss Moore said? There are no safe choices. Only different ones." She takes a last look at the river, and her hand flies to her mouth. There's a moment when its so quiet that I can her the ragged edges of my breathing. And then color flows beneath her skin., the hair curling into ringlets, the cheeks a vibrant rose. She's radiant. All around me, the land is coming alive again in a ripple of blooms and golden leaves. On the horizon, a new pink sky is born. And the knight stands waiting, her glove in his hand. The warm breeze has pushed the boat to our shore.
This is a time for goodbyes. But I've had too many goodbyes of late, a lifetime of them to come, so I say nothing. She smiles. I return the smile. That's all that's needed. She steps into the boat and lets it carry her across the river. When she reaches the other side, the knight helps her out, into the sweet green grass. Beneath the silver arch of the garden's gate, Mother Elena's little girl, Carolina, watches too. But soon she realized this is not the one shes waiting for and she drifts out of sight, cradling her doll in her arms." page 394-396

• Do you think Pippa made a wise choice?

Literary Luminary

"I cant think. Can barely breathe. Overhead, the sky roils gray and black. We sat here and counted clouds in the blue. Blue as my mother's silk dress. Blue as a promise. A hope. She came back for me. I cant leave her to this.
Those black swirling orbs lean closer. The smell of rot fills my nostrils. Tears sting at my eyes. I have nothing left but that hope and a whisper.
"Mother...I forgive you."
The grip loosens. The things eyes widen. The hideous mouth opens. Its power shrinks. "No!"
I feel my strength returning. I voice grows, the words take on a life of their own. "I forgive you, Mother. I forgive you, Mary Dowd."
The creature writhes and screams. I roll from is grasp. It is losing the fight, diminishing. It howls at me in pain, but I don't stop. I repeat it like a mantra as I grab a rock and smash the first rune. It crumbles in a shower of crystal rain, and I smash the second.
"Stop! What are you doing?" it shrieks.
I smash the third and fourth runes. For a moment, the thing changes shape, becomes my mother, and weak on a patch of straw like grass.
"Gemma, please stop. You're killing me."
I hesitate. She turns her face to me, soft and tear stained.
"Gemma, it is me. It's Mother.:
"No. My mother is dead."
I smash the fifth rune, falling back against the hard earth. With a great gasp, the things loses its grip on my mothers spirit. It shrinks in on itself, becomes a thin column of twisting moans, until it is sucked up into the sky and all is silent.
I lie still.
"Mother?" I say. I'm not really expecting an answer, and I don't get one. She's truly gone now. I am alone. And somehow, this is as it should be." page 392-393

• Do you think it was hard for Gemma to destroy the creature? Because even though it was evil, her mom would be out of her life forever...

Literary Luminary

"Why not call ourselves the Order?" I say.
Felicity sits up so quickly I can still feel the warmth of her next to me, trailing behind her by seconds. "How absolutely perfect! Gemma, you are our genius." I'm a little embarrassed, so I twist the stem of the apple in my hand till it breaks with a snap. Felicity pulls my hand to her mouth and bites into the fruit cupped there. Her mouth is sticky sweet from it as she kisses me full on the lips. I have to put my hand to them to stop the tingling, and a blush has flooded my entire body.
Felicity raises the apple and my arm into the air, both held tight in her pale fist."Ladies, I give you the Order, reborn!"
"The Order, reborn!" we all echo, our voices bouncing around the cave in ripples of sound. Pippa actually embraces me. We're alive with our new secret, with the way we belong to each other an do something other than the dull passing of hours with nothing to look forward to besides our routines. It makes me feel even more powerful than the whiskey, and I want it to go on forever.
"Do you suppose there was really such an order of women?"
Felicity snorts. "Don't be daft, Pip. It's a fairy tale.
Pippa is hurt. "I only wondered, that's all."
I don't want the spell of our evening to be broken so fast.
"What if it were true?" The slim leather-bound diary is in my hands and out in the open before I can really think about it." page 142-143

• How do you think that Gemma came upon the name, "The Order"?
• Do you think that might have something to do with the diary of Mary Dowd?

Literary Luminary

"She leans in close to Felicity. "What were you doing with her?"
"I do believe that one headmistress is enough, Pippa,"
Felicity scoffs. "Really, your imagination is so brilliant you should put i to use as a novelist someday. Gemma, walk with me."
She loops her arm through mine and we pass Pippa, who can do nothing to save face now but make a show of snubbing Ann to run off and talk with other girls.
"Sometimes she is such a child," Felicity says when we're a few steps being them all.
"I thought you were best of friends."
"I adore Pippa. Really. but she's very sheltered. There are things I could never tell her. Like Ithal. But you understand. I can tell that you do. I think we're going to be great friends, Gemma."
"Would we still be great friends if I didn't hold a secret over your head?" I ask.
"Don't friends always share secrets?"
Would I ever share my secrets with any of these girls? Or would they run in horror to know the truth about me? Up ahead, Miss Moore shepherds the younger girls through the trees and put onto the great lawn. She watches us with a curious expression, as id we're windows into the past. Ghosts.
"Come along, girls," she calls. "Don't dawdle."
"Dawdle? I can barely breathe from trudging up this hill at a gallop!" Felicity sniffs.
"How long has Miss Moore taught at Spence?" I ask.
"She arrived this past summer. She's a breath of fresh air in this staid old place, I can tell you that. Oh, what's this?" Felicity says.
"What's what?" I ask.
"This remnant in your bodice. Bit torn. Ugh, and muddy. If you need a proper handkerchief, you only have to ask. I've got scads of them." She puts the scrap i my open palm. Its blue silk, torn and soiled around the edges, as if it might have been ripped by a branch. My legs shake so that i have to lean against the first tree I see.
Felicity looks puzzled. "Whats the matter?"
"Nothing," I say, my voice whispery tight.
"Its as if you've seen a ghost."
I might have.
The muddy blue silk is a promise in my hands. My mother was here. I'd choose her. It's what I said before I fell asleep. Somehow, I've changed things. I've brought her back with this strange power of mine. For the first time, I want to know everything about it. If Kartik wont tell me, I'll find out on my own. I'll hunt down Mary Dowd and get her to tell me what I need to know. They can't stop me.
Felicity gives my hand a pull. "Don't be so slow."
"I'm coming," I said, quickening my pace till I'm clear of the trees and into the warm sun again." page 117-118

• What do you think was the reason Gemma asked: "Would we still be great friends if I didn't hold a secret over your head?"
• So why all of a sudden does Gemma want to know all about these powers after saying that she doesn't? Do you think its just because she go ta glimpse of her mother and because of the blue silk?

Literary Luminary

"Is this the Mary who thinks she knows me? I dont know any Mary Dowd. My head aches and I'm cold out here in just my nightgown.
"Tell Mary to leave me alone. I dont want this power she's giving me."
"She's not giving you the power, miss. Just showing you the way."
"Well, I dont want to follow! Do you understand Mary Dowd?"
I'm shouting at the cave till my voice echoes in my ears. Its enought to pull me had from the vision, until I'm alone in the cave, the diary in my hands." page 87-88

• Why do you think she didnt want to follow the way that Mary wants her too?
• What did this passage show you while you were reading?

Word Wizard.

"In every end, there is also a beginning."



So I think this quote is constatly stated by many people and in many books. What do you think about the way they have stated it in this book.. ? Did it make you think about anything else, personally or something like that?

Word Wizard.

"I refuse to let the past find me here."

When i read this part it reminded me of what we talked about in class a few months ago about trying to escape fate. And then like how most of us had different opinions on how we agreed and disagreed with the idea.

Now after reading the book what are some of the ideas you guys have on this, has your views changed knowing that she's in a way trying to escpae fate and avoiding her past.

Word Wizard.

"There's alot about discovering who you are and how difficult that is. And it never stops."

I found this quote interesting in the book as well as interesting on a personal perspective. I always hear people talking about how they're so fat and how like how insecure they are and stuff. This quote means a lot when you hear conversations like that because to those people it makes it hard to be secure, because they're constantly being insecure and thinking negative. So like the quote says, "there's alot about discovering who you are and how difficult that is," in order to be secure you would have to find out more about yourself and discovering who you are.

Thoughts and ideas?

Word Wizard.

"What happens if your choice is misguided,
you must try to correct it
but what if it's too late? What if you can't?
Then you must find a way to live with it."

This quote seems like a life lesson kind of thing to me and I found it important in the story, what did you guys think of this quote?

Word Wizard.

"Come along, girls," she calles. "Don't dawdle."
"Dawdle? I can barely brathe from trudging up this hill at a gallop!" Felicity sniffs.

Dawdle-
1. to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter
2. to move slowly, laguidly, or dilatorily

So I found the word kind of funny and I didn't know what it meant so I looked it up. And thats what it meant, I guess there's another word to use. :)

Word Wizard.

Camelot-
1. the legendary site of King Arthur's palace and court possibly near Exeter, England
2. any iddylic palace or period, especially one of great happiness
3. the gamourous ambience of Washington, D.C., during the administration of John F. Kennedy

So I wanted to know more about what Camelot was when Felicity was reciting the poem this was one thing she said, "And music went to Camelot," so yeah I found out more.

There was more about it at thi website if any one wants to check it out,
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot.

Word Wizard

"There are no safe choices. Only other choices. There are no safe choices."

I quoted this part of the reading because at first to me it seemed a little confusing, but as I read it over again and kept reading the I understood it and I agreed with it. I think its deep and you just need to look more into it and maybe if you take the quote and think a little more... maybe even personally, you can either agree or disagree. What do you guys think, agree or disagree and why?

Word Wizard

"Shall I tell you a story? A new and terrible one? A ghost story? Are you ready? Shall I begin? Once upon a time there were four girls. One was pretty. One was pretty. One was clever. One charming, and one...one was mysterious. But they were all damaged, you see. Something not right about the lot of them. Bad blood. Big dreams. Oh, I left that part out. Sorry, that should have come before. They were all dreamers, these girls. One by one, night after night, the girls came together. And they sinned. Do you know what that sin was? No one? Pippa? Ann? Their sin was that they believed. Believed they could be different. Special. They believed they could change what they were--damaged, unloved. Cast-off things. They would be alive, adored, needed. Necessary. But it wasn't true. This is a ghost story remember? A tragedy. They were misled. Betrayed by their own stupid hopes. Things couldn;t be different fro them, because they weren't special after all. So life took them, led them, and they were along, you see? They faded before their own eyes, till they were nothing more than living ghosts, haunting each other with what could be. With what can't be. There, now. Isn't that the scariest story you've ever heard?"

This passage to me brought alot of thinking and I think it was an important part of the story. I thought of what would happen and what those thoughts and dreams they had were. And also like what was so bad about what they believed.. since it became a sin.
What were some of your thougths while reading this passage, what came to mind?

Summarizer: Chapter 36-38

In chapter 36, the girls visit the realms, and though Gemma feels they should go back, they all insist on staying for a while. Previously, Felicity got Pippa and Ann to help her try and sacrifice a deer so they could enter the realms and Gemma was refusing to take them. In the realms, the huntress grows into one of Circe's creatures. It tries to take Felicity and Gemma pulls her away. On the river, Ann is staring at her reflection in the water and inching closer and closer to the surface like a spell. Gemma pulls her away and Ann loses her beauty and becomes herself again. Pippa is on a boat, stuck in the middle of the river and then the boat tips over. The water closes over her and Gemma sees Pippa's face, looking the same as in the vision she had during the waltz.

Gemma leaves Pippa there and gets Ann and Felicity out of the realms. Gemma has Kartik bring Pippa's stiff body to her bedroom. Gemma runs for Mrs. Nightwing who calls the doctor. Gemma must enter the realms again and she gives Felicity her amulet just in case she doesn't come back. In the realms, Gemma puts her hand on the Runes, giving her new stronger powers. Her mother turns into one of Circe's creaturs and as Gemma shout that she forgives her mother, the thing grows weaker. Gemma smashes the Runes.

Gemma breaks the ice and pulls Pippa out of the water. She is pale and cold. She tries to take Pippa out of the realms, but Pippa questions what her life will become, she will marry Bartleby Bumble, a man who is far too old for her that her parents chose. She takes berries and eats them, her color is back and she is vibrant, but she must stay in the realms forever because she ate the food. Back in the real world, they must bury Pippa, who everyone believes died from her epilepsy.

Summarizer: Chapters 22-24

Though Gemma has been warned not to use her powers, the four girls join hands in the caves and find the door of light. There, Gemma finds her mother and can't shake off the idea that her mother is supposed to be dead. But her mother explains that they're in the realms, a world between worlds. It's a place where anything you wish for is at your fingertips. This leaves the girls happy and smiling the next day.

Gemma finds the Kartik is following and watching her. The girls find the door of light again. In the realms, Felicity wishes for a huntress to teach her archery, Ann makes herself beautiful and an even better singer, and Pippa gives herself a handsome knight. All Gemma needs is her mother, so she doesn't have a wish.

Kartik leaves Gemma a note saying that the magic is dangerous and she should stop while she still can. She rips the note up.

Summarizer: Chapter 16-18

While doing the waltz hand-in-hand with Pippa, Gemma has a vision and takes Pippa in it. Gemma is in a misty forest and she sees Pippa's face pale, confused, and scared. When they are back from the vision Pippa is on the floor, her eyes fluttering back and her body jerking around. Gemma blames herself, but Mrs. Nightwing tells her the truth is that Pippa suffers from eplilepsy. Pippa is put on bed rest for a few days. Gemma finds out Pippa's family keeps her epilepsy a secret because if people found out no one would want to marry her. This is also why she wants her to marry young before someone finds out that she has it because she will be unwanted.

In the hallways Gemma makes a strange discovery- there is no class portrait for 1871, the year Mary Dowd attended Spence. Mrs. Nightwing tells her it is out of respect for the dead. There was a fire in the East Wing of Spence that killed Sarah Rees-Toome and Mary Dowd. Gemma is in disbelief! In Chapter 17, Brigids tells the girls a little about the fire. When it is just Gemma, Ann, and Felicity they get Brigid to tell them the truth. Brigid has nothing good to say about Mary and Sarah, saying they were wicked girls and that she was sure that the fire was not an accident and neither was the fact that Mrs. Spence was also killed in the fire.

Summarizer: Chapters 10-12

In the beginning of Chapter 10, the girls are all outside playing during their free time, but Gemma is reading something that has just recently been brought to her, the diary of Mary Dowd. In a vision she was lead to a cave where the diary was hidden. This is when she first find out about Sarh and Mary, who Gemma learns also had visions, but they passed through a door of light into a beautiful place. This leaves her confused because everything she has experienced has been far from beautiful and Kartik warned her to try to get away from her visions.

While reading, Gemma hears voices who she suspects is Felicity and Pippa. But she discovers it's not Pippa, but a Gypsy. Felicity asks for Gemma's help to hide the boy, Ithal, before Mrs. Nightwing gets close enough to see him. Once she successfully does this she has to promise to not tell anyone about him because not even Pippa knows. I would consider this the start of their friendship because the secret between Felicity and Gemma pulls them closer.

Late one night Gemma finds Kartik in her room. He warns her to stop the visions because the Order is after her.

In Chapter 12, Miss Moore (the art teacher) brings the class out to see the cave paintings. She tells them stories of the Order and what the art in the caves mean. Gemma is full of questions about the "myths". Felicity decides that at night her, Gemma, and Pippa will meet in the caves at night just like myths say the Order used to. Gemma talks them into inviting Ann.

Summarizer: Chapters 4-6

I thought these were some important chapters to write about. This is when Gemma first gets to Spence. It is her first impressions of the school and the characters we meet there.

Gemma seems very impressed by the setting of Spence. She describes its grounds on page 36:
"The horse draws us under the stone archway and through gates that open onto the lovely grounds. I can just make out a wonderful green field, perfect for playing lawn tennis or croquet, and what looks like lush, overgrown gardens. A little farther out lies a grove of great trees, thick as a forest. Beyond the trees sits a chapel perched on a hill. The whole picture looks as if it's been standing this way for centuries, untouched."

Something else I picked up was how the author's last sentence in this passage said that Spence looked "untouched." It's irnoic how Gemma's first impression of Spence based on appearance was so wrong. It's as if Spence tries to cover up everything that has happened there (such as the fire) to make themselves seem like the perfect school. However over time, Gemma learns Spence has a lot of secrets hiding behind its picturesque appearnance.

Gemma is brought to meet Mrs. Nightwing, the headmistress of Spence Academy. She thinks she is mean, strict and demanding. She introduces Gemma to all the girls, who she finds intimidating as they stare her down. Gemma is also brought to meet her new roomate, Ann Branshaw. Ann is a scholarship student, she doesn't have the money and social class of the other girls who go there. Gemma's first impressions of Ann aren't so good, she finds her a plain and "doughy" girl who's nose always runs. Gemma learns that both of Ann's parents are dead and Ann fills Gemma in on the Spence and some of the girls who go there.

There are two girls that stick out in particular to Gemma. On page 51, she calls them "The blonde and the beauty." That's Felicity and Pippa. They are mean, rude bullies. They don't necessarily follow Spence's motto: grace, charm, and beauty. Maybe, just the beauty part. They even try to frame Ann for stealing Fellicity's ring.

Summarizer: Chapters 1-3

The book opens in Bombay, India. We learn right away that Gemma has a bit of a fiery, rebellious personality. It is obvious her family has money because they have a housekeeper and talk about having tea with friends. her and her mother argue about sending her to boarding school in London, which her gradmother desrcibes to be a wonderful city.

It is Gemma's 16th birthday when the book opens. Her and her mother disagree on many things. As her and her mother wait for the train, two Indian men bump into them. Gemma finds the younger one quite attractive, though she thinks she shouldn't because he is Indian. The older man whispers to her mother, "Circe is near." This causes her mother to panick and leave Gemma. She offers her her strange necklace, with the crescent eye on it. Gemma runs through the streets until she is lost. She gets a strange feeling which she later discovers is her first vision. It is of her mother and the older indian man she saw earlier. She watches as her mother kills herself and the man is devoured by a darkness. She is suddenly back on the streets, fighting off the younger indian boy who tries to keep her under control. She runs to find her mother and discovers it is true, her mother is dead. Two months later her and her brother are on their way to Spence Academy in London. While on the way there she has another vision of a little girl with a doll in an alley. She tells Gemma that Mary is looking for her. A shadow moves closer to the little girl and gemma tells her to run, and then the creature turns Gemma with "unseeing eyes". It has decaying lips and spikes for teeth.

Sorry to be so descriptive, I felt this was an important part.

A Great and Terrible Beauty MOVIE ?

Just saying.. I'm hoping this is true because I really enjoyed the book.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833962/

Gypsy Caravans & Gypsies [Pg 75]

I guess those were what the gypsies were sleeping in. But honestly when I was reading this book and they were talking bout the gypsies, I thought they were animals cause everyone kept saying how dangerous they were but after researching I guess not.

A gypsy was a common term to describe Romani people or Travellers who mostly lived in Europe but originated from India. There were several groups of gypsies such as; Rom, Ludar, Romnichels, "Black Dutch", and Hungarian Gypsies.

The Rom came from Serbia, Russia and Austria-hungary and arrived in the United States during the early 1880s and ended in 1914. They also started the fortune-telling business in urban areas. Many of them were really good in coppersmith work, repairing equipments that were used in bakeries, laundromats, and other businesses.

The Ludar, also known as "Romanian Gypsies" came from the northwestern Bosnia and arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1914. They were really good as animal trainers and show-people. They created a village in Maspeth, Queens , New York that existed from 1925 to 1939.

The Romnichels came from England and arrived in the United States in 1850. Man of them worked as horse-traders. But after horse trading was no longer making any business, they relied on basket-making.

The "Black Dutch", who really called the Chikkeners came from Germany. They were many of them because they soon went along with the Romnichels.

The Hungarian Gypsies came to the United States with the easter Europeans, and they continued being musicians.

Some pictures of Gypsy Caravans & Gypsies (which I had trouble looking for) themselves