The New Zealand writer Margaret Mahy

In a career “spanning some fifty years”, Margaret Mahy has written widely. The word “spanning” is closest to:

• Limiting

• Covering

• Ignoring

• Separating

Margaret Mahy has come to “occupy a unique place” in New Zealand writing. The word “occupy” is closest to:

• Empty

• Fill

• Borrow

• Divide

Mahy has come to occupy a unique place in New Zealand writing with “innovative” fiction. The word “innovative” is closest to:

• Traditional

• Unchanged

• Creative and new

• Limited

Mahy has ventured into “imaginative territory” unknown to other local writers. The word “imaginative” is closest to:

• Predictable

• Dull

• Creative

• Literal

Her explorations of human behaviour in teenage fiction stand “gloriously” alone. The word “gloriously” is closest to:

• Shamefully

• Magnificently

• Quietly

• Accidentally

Mahy’s clearest heir, I have always thought, is Elizabeth Knox – and maybe the true “inheritance” there is sheer singularity. The word “inheritance” is closest to:

• Debt

• Legacy

• Complaint

• Secret

Mahy, too, has “ventured into” imaginative territory unknown to other local writers. The phrase “ventured into” is closest to:

• Avoided

• Embarked on

• Quickly left

• Strictly limited

As with all journalists, she is “generous to a fault” with her time and attention. The phrase “generous to a fault” is closest to:

• Too selfish

• Extremely kind, perhaps excessively so

• Financially reckless

• Very suspicious

Any consideration of her style throws up some “irresistible” theories. The word “irresistible” is closest to:

• Easy to reject

• Impossible to ignore

• Hard to understand

• Dangerous

Despite these sometimes “mundane” origins, the settings for her stories are varied. The word “mundane” is closest to:

• Ordinary

• Dangerous

• Exotic

• Sacred