Though Todd is shocked by this unethical practice, he wants to ensure Viola's safety. They have led a group of women out of New Prentisstown to form a resistance movement, reconvened from the time of the Spackle War, known as 'The Answer', to carry out a series of bombings in the city.ĭavy and Todd receive orders to brand the Spackle with numbered metal bands. However, one night Mistress Coyle and many other healers disappear. As the Spackle speak via Noise, cure has been placed into the Spackle's food to prevent communication.īack at the house of healing, Viola finally recovers enough to help Mistress Coyle and begins an apprenticeship as a healer. Todd is disgusted at the treatment of the Spackle, yet Davy is proud of his authority.

Todd hopes that by complying he is ensuring Viola's health and safety, while the Mayor hopes that Davy will become a better person with Todd's influence. Todd is made to work with the enslaved Spackle of New Prentisstown with Davy Prentiss. Viola also meets the apprentices Corinne Wyatt and Maddy as she recovers.

She meets Mistress Coyle, the head of the facility, who also has previous political and activist ties. She is in a house of healing, a 'clinic' staffed by female healers, as opposed to male doctors, for her gunshot wound. He expresses his displeasure at the easiness of taking over, claiming that the people will pay for the lack of war.Įlsewhere, Viola awakens. The Mayor organises a speech as the rest of his army marches in. He has also separated the males and females, and imprisons all domestic Spackle who live in the town. Ledger explains that Haven discovered a cure for Noise, but Mayor Prentiss (now President Prentiss) has confiscated it for sole use by leaders of New Prentisstown. He is forced to live in the town's clock tower with the previous Mayor, Con Ledger. Resuming directly after The Knife of Never Letting Go, Todd Hewitt is captured by the Mayor's army in Haven, renamed New Prentisstown, but his only concern is for Viola. ( June 2010) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness