A MATTER OF CHANCE – Book

1- Can you summarize the book in two minutes?

First a man and his wife go to live in Italy, in Como, in these village horrible things happen. Jacky dies because a roof-tile falls on her head.

A month later Poul met Sandra, a beautiful Italian girl at work. She is chemist and works for her parents.

One day Sandra invites Poul to travel around Europe, and this will be an incredible adventure.

Poul discovers a lot of strange things about Sandra and her family, he thinks that they use him for traffic or…

As the trip continuous he discovered neew things and finally she tells him all the truth.

Her family does an illegal business with luxurious false furniture.

And at the end he discovers that the foult of the operation is Andrea a member of the company. He is very dangerous and he compels Poul to follow these cars to England, but Poul escapes with Sandra by car.

On the motorway there is a big persecution that ends with an incredible crash, Andrea dies and all the problems finished. Poul and Sandra get married in and one year later he goes back to Como with the memory of his wife.

2- Is there a mystery sentence or a turning point in the story?

The most exiting part of the story is when Poul sees Sandra talking to a strange man in Italian, and he also sees the silver Mercedes. With this car will be a lot of problems and adventures.

3- When and where does the story take place?

The story happens in different countries; Italy, French, England and Switzerland. It takes places now.

4- Who are the main characters in the story? What’s their role?

The main characters are Poul (the most important), Sandra (lives the adventures with Poul) and Andrea (the bad man of the story).

5- Choose one character and describe him/her.

Andrea: He is the typical shark of the company, with his Mercedes and a very smart man.

He is 25 more ales, but he is a dangerous man, the bad man with a terrible laugh.

6- Can you identify with any character? Why?

No, because my life is calmer and this story is too exiting to happen in real life.

7- Choose your favorite moment of the story.

For me the best moment of the story is when Poul at the end thinks about everything that has happened and he thinks about the “Matter of Change”. And everything has finished.

8- What new words or expressions have you learnt reading this story?

- roof-tile fell / la teula del taulat a caigut

- together / junts

- way / camí o manera

- tiny / minúscul

- go toward / anar cap a …

- engaged / promès (casament)

- seemed / semblava

- guilty / culpable

- stood up / aixecar

- wonder / pregunta, meravella o miracle

- got back / trobar

- downstairs / baix de les escales

- replied / va contestar

- will be able / podrà

- successful / exitós

- business / negoci

- disappointed / decepció

- below / sota

- ness / desordre

- motorway / autopista

- lorry / camió

- A matter of chance / a passat per casualitat

9- Provide an alternative ending.

Well, Poul and Sandra get married and they are together for the rest of their lives and they live a calm life together far away from people like Andrea.

10- Would you recommend this book? Why?

Yes, of course. Because it’s the firs book of the mystery and adventures that I have read, I was happy while I was reading this book. It’s like a drug.