1. The Darkness Out There: a ‘coming of age’ journey
How might Sandra’s journey be both literal and metaphorical in the story?
Sandra transitions from a naïve young girl on the cusp of adolescence who takes everything at face value..
….to a young woman who (we assume) now has a more astute view of the world.
Sandra realises at the end of the story that the world has ‘grown unreliable’ and that ‘everything is not as it appears’.

2. Track Sandra’s journey to Mrs Rutter’s cottage and what happens there using your double page spread, sticking the ‘map’ in the middle. Discuss in your table groups which quotations might be important to include and annotate on the map.

3. Track Sandra’s journey to Mrs Rutter’s cottage and what happens there using your double page spread, sticking the ‘map’ in the middle. The idea is that you label this with key quotations and then your thoughts on how Lively is portraying Sandra’s transition (identify devices and key messages).
“She walked through flowers, the girl, ox-eye daisies and cow parsley, keeping to the track at the edge of the field.” (L1-2)
 “…she would have to walk by the edge of it with the light suddenly shutting off the bare wide sky of the field. Packer’s End.” (L22-4)
 “…after, lying on your stomach at home watching telly with the curtains drawn and the dark shut out, it was cosy to think of Packer’s End, where you weren’t.” (L45)
 “She seemed composed of circles, a cottage-loaf of a woman, with a face below which chins collapsed one into another, a creamy, smiling pool of a face in which her eyes snapped and darted.” (L95-7)
 “He was hurt pretty bad. He was kind of talking to himself. Something about mutter, mutter… Then we went back to the cottage.” (L305-9)
 “…you had this coming to you mate, there’s a war on… Why should I do anything for you? Nobody did anything for my Bill, did they?” (L326-8)
 “He leaned against the gate, clenching his fists on an iron rung; he shook slightly. ‘I won’t ever forget that poor sod.’/ She nodded.” (L352-5)
 “One moment you were walking in the long grass with the sun on your hair and birds singing and the next you glimpsed darkness, an inescapable darkness. The darkness was out there and it was a part of you and you would never be without it, ever.” (L366-9)

4. BIG questions:
Should we judge Sandra harshly for her inability to respond to Mrs Rutter’s shocking revelation?
What is Penelope Lively trying to show us about justice? Is context important here (Mrs Rutter was acting during the Second World War)?
Why might some people refer to this as a ‘coming of age’ story?
What is the purpose of the character of Kerry Stevens?
How does the writer explore stereotyping through the characters of Mrs Rutter, Kerry Stevens and Pat?
“Sandra doesn’t really learn anything in this story.” How far do you agree? Consider the ending carefully as part of your answer.