How did "The Wishing Game" by Meg Shaffer end? Have you finished reading "The Wishing Game" and now you need to discuss the ending? Can you not remember how "The Wishing Game" ends, or maybe you want to just skip to finding out all of the spoilers? Get refreshed on "The Wishing Game" before heading off to book club tonight? Keep reading to discuss this fiction novel and all of the twists and turns at the end!
Spoilers ahead!
How Did "The Wishing Game" by Meg Shaffer End?
What Are the Twists and Spoilers?
The plot really starts to move towards the end of the competition. After competing in several days of events, the contestants are asked to face their greatest fears. When the main character, Lucy Hart, meets her worst fear she is faced with a conversation with her long-lost older sister, Angie. Much of Lucy's child was spent at the hospital because Angie was sick as a child. Lucy's parents abandoned her, forcing her to live with her grandparents. While that abandonment was devastating, on Angie's sixteenth birthday she told her sister that she was only born as a potential donor and that no one really wanted her. Lucy had yet to speak with Angie since. However, as part of the competition, Lucy agrees to speak with Angie. During the conversation, Lucy finds out that her parents were also cruel to Angie. They only loved their eldest daughter when she was sick. When Angie wasn't ill, their parents were constantly finding opportunities to put her in other treatments, inventing illnesses and mental health conditions. Angie is also no longer communicating with their parents. Angie and Lucy part ways with lukewarm goodbyes but hope they might reconnect someday.
The last event could result in a winner. The last event of the competition is worth five points and could result in any of the three competitors winning. They are all told that they can phone a friend but they need to find out what is written on page 129 of "The Secret of Clock Island". Lucy worries that Christopher will not answer. After all, he is afraid of phones because his parents' phones were repeatedly ringing when they died. However, with seconds remaining, Christopher picks up the phone and gives Lucy the winning answer for the competition, "I win!"
Lucy loses the competition. Although Christopher did find the correct answer and gave it to Lucy, it was too late. Lucy answered just as the timer went off. Before the competition began, the contestants had been informed that if no one won, the book rights would remain with the publisher. Jack Masterson is disappointed and apologizes to the contestants; letting them know he will do whatever he can to make it up to them. Hugo also offers a painting of his to Christopher to soften the blow.
Jack Masterson gifts Lucy the house on Clock Island. Jack Masterson comes to Lucy and offers her the house on Clock Island. Lucy initially thinks that he means a copy of his book, however he reveals a key and offers her the house. Masterson plans on continuing to live in the house as well and hopes that Christopher can also come to stay with them after he is adopted by Lucy.
Jack reveals that Christopher has been writing him. Jack shows Lucy letters he has received from Christopher stating that he wishes to live on Clock Island. Christopher has been writing to him for several months asking Jack if he could live on Clock Island. Promising that if he got another call he would be brave and answer the call. It was not the books but Jack Masterson himself who helped Christopher overcome his fear of phones. Jack also reveals that he has spoken with his attorney to start the process of adoption for Christopher. Ms. Hyde, the attorney who we thought worked for Jack's publisher, reveals that she is confident they will be able to finish the process in a few months. Lucy accepts, saying "I win", calling back to the winning book quote from earlier in the competition.
Hugo decides to stay on the island. The book jumps ahead three months as Hugo and Jack wait for Lucy and Christopher to arrive at the airport. While they are chatting it is revealed that Jack likely paid off the student loans of Dustin, one of the contestants who was kicked out of the competition for cheating early in the game. Letting readers know that Lucy is not the only one getting her wishes filled they talk about their other contestants. A bookshop owner who was worried about finances will be hosting the release of Masterson's newest novel and the man worried for his dying father has been helped in finding a donor kidney.
Loose ends are tied up. This is definitely one of those books where every loose string is tied up in the last chapter. The author even includes that Lucy reached out to her ex-boyfriend, Sean, told him about her miscarriage, and finalized that they would not be getting back together. Lucy also visits her sister, Angie, who has three months left to live at the cancer center. Coming full circle in healing from the start of their relationship when she was never able to visit her. In one of the last scenes of the book, Hugo presents Lucy with a copy of the soon-to-be-released book, "A Wish for Clock Island" so that she can read it with Christopher in their new home as mother and son.
And that's a wrap on "The Wishing Game" by Meg Shaffer! Did I miss any twists or major ending plot points? Wanna discuss? Comment below!
