Which writer?

[mallory]

Who wrote a short story whose title comprises the definite article and a word of seven letters, five of which are the letter A ?

[sft42]

Stephen King....Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

[davver]

None of those have seven letters, <b>sft42</b>. What I think is being asked here is who wrote a book called 'The _______', this mystery second word having seven letters, five of which are 'a'. Therefore the word must be one of three possibilities: a_aa_aa, aa_a_aa or aa_aa_a.

Am I right, <b>Mallory</b>?

[mallory]

Yes Davver, that is how I thought the answer would look like, but I  still cannot solve it.

[helen111183]

i have this question on a quiz- any answers yet?

[Hammond Egg]

I'm just guessing here.

The question refers to 'the definite article' rather than 'the'.

Which makes me think that the title isn't in English.

About the only language which has so 'aa' formations is Finnish.

So if anyone is an expert in Finnish literature . . .