The flooded cellar
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Rain had fallen since noon. At dusk, Sarah opened the cellar door and saw water gathered at the foot of the steps. A brown line trembled across the lowest stone. She held up her candle, but the light reached only a little way into the darkness.
Sarah descended one step. Cold water closed over her boot, and she pulled back at once. Above her, the hall clock struck seven. The account book on the lowest shelf contained ten years of her father's records; if the water rose much higher, the pages would be lost.
She lifted her skirt and went down again. The flame shook in her hand. Behind her, rain drummed on the windows; before her, the water spread across the cellar floor. She crossed slowly, keeping her eyes on the shelf. When she seized the book, the candle went out.
For a moment Sarah stood in complete darkness. Then she pressed the book beneath her shawl and felt along the wall until her fingers found the stairs. In the kitchen, she laid the damp book beside the fire. Water continued to tap against the cellar door, quietly and patiently.
Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to create a threatening atmosphere in the passage.
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456 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 1.3 Content: prose fiction study requirements, covering 1.3.1 Read challenging prose fiction for the unseen 19th-century extract. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.