Mortal Engines

by

Philip Reeve

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Mortal Engines makes teaching easy.
Hester Shaw is a teenage girl about Tom’s age who has a large scar on her face from the night when Thaddeus Valentine murdered her parents and left her for dead. After losing her parents, Hester spent a lot of time with Shrike, an emotionally distant cyborg who nevertheless seemed to care about her. She devoted years of her life to tracking Valentine and attempts to assassinate him at the beginning of the novel, but Tom interferes with her plans at the last minute, forcing her to run away. Soon after, when Valentine throws Tom off a trash chute in an attempt to murder him, Tom and Hester end up as traveling companions in the Hunting Ground, trying to reach London together. Unlike the more cautious Tom, Hester is willing to risk her own life from the very beginning of the book. Although she doesn’t have much formal education, she is clever and frequently sees solutions to problems that the more conventional Tom misses. Whereas Tom learns to be brave from being with Hester, Hester learns how to accept help from others instead of trying to do everything alone. She thinks of herself as “ugly” because of the massive scar on her face, but she proves that external looks can be deceiving and that what’s even more important is how a person acts.

Hester Shaw Quotes in Mortal Engines

The Mortal Engines quotes below are all either spoken by Hester Shaw or refer to Hester Shaw. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Class Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Ask him!” she screamed. “Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“The law!” she scoffed. “Valentine is the law in London. Isn’t he the Lord Mayor’s favourite? Isn’t he the Head Historian? No, he’ll kill me unless I kill him first.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Magnus Crome had been ruler of London for nearly twenty years, but he still didn’t look like a Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayors in Katherine’s history books were chubby, merry, red-faced men, but Crome was as thin as an old crow, and twice as gloomy.

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Katherine Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Mr Shrike!” says Crome, sounding almost cheery. “How are we today? I hope you were not asleep?”

“I DO NOT SLEEP,” replies a voice from the darkness. It is a horrible voice, sharp as the squeal of rusty cogs.

Related Characters: Shrike (speaker), Magnus Crome (speaker), Hester Shaw
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“Yes, I know, and I’m terribly sorry about it, but what can I do?” said Wreyland sadly. “Times are hard, you know.”

Related Characters: Orme Wreyland (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“It’s made of junk!” he gasped.

“Junk?” laughed Miss Fang. “Why, the Jenny Haniver is built from bits of the finest airships that ever flew! An envelope of silicon-silk from a Shan Guo clipper, twin Jeunet-Carot aero-engines off a Paris gunship, the reinforced gas-cells of a Spitzbergen war-balloon... It’s amazing what you can find in the scrapyards...”

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy (speaker), Miss Anna Fang (speaker), Hester Shaw
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“I WORK FOR THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON NOW,” said Shrike. “HE HAS SENT ME TO KILL YOU.”

Tom whimpered again. Hester gave a brittle little laugh. “But ... you won’t do it, will you, Shrike? You wouldn’t kill me?”

“YES,” said Shrike flatly, still staring down at her.

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Shrike (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“We don’t stand a chance against Shrike in the air,” she explained. “Hopefully on the ground I can outwit him.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Shrike
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

“I may be no better than Valentine,” she went on, “but there is a difference between us. Valentine tried to kill you, and I want to keep you alive. So, will you come with me?”

Related Characters: Miss Anna Fang (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“I try to be nice,” she said. “Nobody’s ever made me feel they like me before, the way you do. So I try to be kind and smiley, like you want me to be, but then I catch sight of my reflection or I think of him and it all goes wrong and I can only think horrible things and scream at you and try and hurt you. I’m sorry.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Shrike
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 209
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

And light burst down from above; the harsh beam of an airship’s searchlight raking across the snow. The aviatrix reeled blindly backwards, and Valentine leaped up, snatching his sword, pulling her hard against him as he drove it home. For a moment the two of them stumbled together like drunken dancers at the end of a party, close enough to Tom’s hiding place for him to see the bright blade push out through the back of Miss Fang’s neck and hear her desperate, choking whisper: “Hester Shaw will find you. She will find you and—”

Related Characters: Miss Anna Fang (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

He said, “You must understand, Kate, I did it for you...”

Related Characters: Thaddeus Valentine (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Katherine Valentine, Miss Anna Fang, Magnus Crome, Pandora Shaw
Page Number: 242
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

She had come to think of Bevis Pod as a sweet, clumsy, rather useless person, someone who needed her to look after him, and she suspected that that was how the Historians all thought of him as well. But that afternoon she had begun to understand that he was really much cleverer than her.

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Katherine Valentine, Bevis Pod
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 252
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

“I’ll be dead in twenty minutes, Tom,” she said. “Just get yourself safe away. Forget about me.”

“I’ll circle back...”

“I’ll be dead.”

“I’ll circle back anyway...”

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy (speaker), Hester Shaw (speaker), Thaddeus Valentine, Miss Anna Fang
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

Hester was stumbling backwards, lifting her bound hands to ward off Father’s blow, and Katherine flung herself between them so that suddenly it was she who was in his path, and his sword slid easily through her and she felt the hilt jar hard against her ribs.

Related Characters: Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Katherine Valentine, Bevis Pod
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

He gently moves a stray strand which has blown into her mouth, and holds her close, and waits—and the storm-light breaks over them and they are a knot of fire, a rush of blazing gas, and gone: the shadows of their bones scattering into the brilliant sky.

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Katherine Valentine
Page Number: 293
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

“But we’re alive, and together, and we’re going to be all right.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 296
Explanation and Analysis:
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Hester Shaw Quotes in Mortal Engines

The Mortal Engines quotes below are all either spoken by Hester Shaw or refer to Hester Shaw. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Class Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Ask him!” she screamed. “Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“The law!” she scoffed. “Valentine is the law in London. Isn’t he the Lord Mayor’s favourite? Isn’t he the Head Historian? No, he’ll kill me unless I kill him first.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Magnus Crome had been ruler of London for nearly twenty years, but he still didn’t look like a Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayors in Katherine’s history books were chubby, merry, red-faced men, but Crome was as thin as an old crow, and twice as gloomy.

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Katherine Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Mr Shrike!” says Crome, sounding almost cheery. “How are we today? I hope you were not asleep?”

“I DO NOT SLEEP,” replies a voice from the darkness. It is a horrible voice, sharp as the squeal of rusty cogs.

Related Characters: Shrike (speaker), Magnus Crome (speaker), Hester Shaw
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“Yes, I know, and I’m terribly sorry about it, but what can I do?” said Wreyland sadly. “Times are hard, you know.”

Related Characters: Orme Wreyland (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“It’s made of junk!” he gasped.

“Junk?” laughed Miss Fang. “Why, the Jenny Haniver is built from bits of the finest airships that ever flew! An envelope of silicon-silk from a Shan Guo clipper, twin Jeunet-Carot aero-engines off a Paris gunship, the reinforced gas-cells of a Spitzbergen war-balloon... It’s amazing what you can find in the scrapyards...”

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy (speaker), Miss Anna Fang (speaker), Hester Shaw
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“I WORK FOR THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON NOW,” said Shrike. “HE HAS SENT ME TO KILL YOU.”

Tom whimpered again. Hester gave a brittle little laugh. “But ... you won’t do it, will you, Shrike? You wouldn’t kill me?”

“YES,” said Shrike flatly, still staring down at her.

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Shrike (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine, Magnus Crome
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“We don’t stand a chance against Shrike in the air,” she explained. “Hopefully on the ground I can outwit him.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Shrike
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

“I may be no better than Valentine,” she went on, “but there is a difference between us. Valentine tried to kill you, and I want to keep you alive. So, will you come with me?”

Related Characters: Miss Anna Fang (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“I try to be nice,” she said. “Nobody’s ever made me feel they like me before, the way you do. So I try to be kind and smiley, like you want me to be, but then I catch sight of my reflection or I think of him and it all goes wrong and I can only think horrible things and scream at you and try and hurt you. I’m sorry.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Shrike
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 209
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

And light burst down from above; the harsh beam of an airship’s searchlight raking across the snow. The aviatrix reeled blindly backwards, and Valentine leaped up, snatching his sword, pulling her hard against him as he drove it home. For a moment the two of them stumbled together like drunken dancers at the end of a party, close enough to Tom’s hiding place for him to see the bright blade push out through the back of Miss Fang’s neck and hear her desperate, choking whisper: “Hester Shaw will find you. She will find you and—”

Related Characters: Miss Anna Fang (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

He said, “You must understand, Kate, I did it for you...”

Related Characters: Thaddeus Valentine (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Katherine Valentine, Miss Anna Fang, Magnus Crome, Pandora Shaw
Page Number: 242
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

She had come to think of Bevis Pod as a sweet, clumsy, rather useless person, someone who needed her to look after him, and she suspected that that was how the Historians all thought of him as well. But that afternoon she had begun to understand that he was really much cleverer than her.

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Katherine Valentine, Bevis Pod
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 252
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

“I’ll be dead in twenty minutes, Tom,” she said. “Just get yourself safe away. Forget about me.”

“I’ll circle back...”

“I’ll be dead.”

“I’ll circle back anyway...”

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy (speaker), Hester Shaw (speaker), Thaddeus Valentine, Miss Anna Fang
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

Hester was stumbling backwards, lifting her bound hands to ward off Father’s blow, and Katherine flung herself between them so that suddenly it was she who was in his path, and his sword slid easily through her and she felt the hilt jar hard against her ribs.

Related Characters: Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Katherine Valentine, Bevis Pod
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

He gently moves a stray strand which has blown into her mouth, and holds her close, and waits—and the storm-light breaks over them and they are a knot of fire, a rush of blazing gas, and gone: the shadows of their bones scattering into the brilliant sky.

Related Characters: Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Thaddeus Valentine, Katherine Valentine
Page Number: 293
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

“But we’re alive, and together, and we’re going to be all right.”

Related Characters: Hester Shaw (speaker), Tom Natsworthy, Thaddeus Valentine
Related Symbols: Scar
Page Number: 296
Explanation and Analysis: