Spies: Brief Summary

Question 1

What happens in Chapter 1?

Answer 1

1) Main character Stephen Wheatley remembers a scent from his past that prompts uneasy feelings
2) He discovers the scent is called ‘liguster’ (Privet in English)
3) He decides to revisit his past to settle these feelings

Question 2

What happens in Chapter 2?

Answer 2

1) Stephen returns to his boyhood street
2) He recalls what happened with main characters
3) He begins to question his memories and their accuracy
4) Keith says his mother is a German spy

Question 3

What happens in Chapter 3?

Answer 3

1) The boys begin to spy on Mrs. H
2) They uncover the diary and its odd marks, but are caught
3) Keith forces Stephen to swear to secrecy with the bayonet, and makes the sign with Private misspelt as Privet

Question 4

What happens in Chapter 4?

Answer 4

1) The boys have to stop spying through the week due to school
2) They follow Mrs. H to Auntie Dee’s, but nothing special happened
3) Nothing is seen for days, but then Mrs. H disappears again
4) Barbara Berrill invades the hideout

Question 5

What happens in Chapter 5?

Answer 5

1) Old Stephen describes the visual changes
2) Back to past, boys discover Mrs. H was leaving through a tunnel, and find her tin box with cigarettes
3) Stephen starts having nightmares about the X
4) Barbara Berrill enters hideout again, alone with Stephen
5) Mrs. H enters after B leaves, to tell Stephen not to “mislead” Keith

Question 6

What happens in Chapter 6?

Answer 6

1) Stephen wakes at night and decides to visit the box again, retrieving a sock
2) The man spots him, so he runs
3) Keith mocks Stephen for his failures
4) They terrorise the tramp under the iron sheet

Question 7

What happens in Chapter 7?

Answer 7

1) Present again, Stephen examines bush hideout
2) Back to past, observing friendship changes
3) Mr. H canes Keith over missing thermos
4) Stephen informs Mrs. H of this

Question 8

What happens in Chapter 8?

Answer 8

1) Barbara finds Stephen in the hideout again, they smoke and kiss
2) Stephen decides Mrs. H loves a German spy

Question 9

What happens in Chapter 9?

Answer 9

1) Mrs.H asks Stephen to deliver the basket
2) Mr. H takes basket off him, feels guilty, Mrs . H loses freedom
3) Stephen has more nightmares

Question 10

What happens in Chapter 10?

Answer 10

1) Stephen listens to the tramp talk, seems to know the Close well
2) He hands Stephen a silk cravat for Mrs. H
3) Keith wounds his throat with the bayonet because he broke the promise
4) Stephen realises Mrs. H was wounded too, so wore the cravat
5) Stephen hides the cravat by the tracks at night
6) In the morning, a dead man is found by the railways (the tramp)

Question 11

What happens in Chapter 11?

Answer 11

1) Stephen goes back over the events
2) He reveals his German background, proving his audacious father claim to be true
3) Reflects on his Uncle Peter being the tramp.