Ending[edit]
The book ends indeterminately. Fowles received many letters from readers wanting to know which of the two apparently possible outcomes occur; but he refused to answer the question conclusively, sometimes changing his answer to suit the reader. The novel ends quoting the refrain of the Pervigilium Veneris, an anonymous work of fourth-century Latin poetry, which has been taken as indicating the possible preferred resolution of the ending's ambiguity.[6]