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*This page is under construction. Sorry for any inconveniences. Gemma's first name means "jewel".[1] Her surname, Doyle, comes from the Irish language Ó Dubhghaill, or "descendent of Dubhghall". The word Dubhgall, as it were, is Gaelic for "dark stranger".[2] Gemma's full name, then, means "jewel who is descended from a dark stranger". In Rebel Angels, Gemma, Felicity, and Ann make anagrams of their names. Gemma's proves to be Dog Mealy Em, which is a constant source of irritation for her after Ann and Felicity take to using it as an insult. Gemma's name could just as easily become something like Emma Godley, which would pass as a normal name. Gemma is considered to be quite pretty, but no beauty, and is tall for a girl her age. She has pale brows and freckles and describes herself as having the shoulders of a boy. Her hair is red-gold and usually worn properly in a schoolgirl's bun. Her most distinctive feature is her set of brilliant glass-green eyes, which are inherited from her mother, Virginia Doyle. (Mary Dowd) In A Great and Terrible Beauty, the housekeeper at Spence, Brigid, becomes very uncomfortable when Gemma's eyes stir up the memory of Virginia, then called Mary Dowd. Gemma lived most of her life in India. In June 1895, Gemma's mother, Virginia Doyle , dies, leaving Gemma with her strange amulet in the shape of the Crescent Eye, and the Doyle family moves back to England. Gemma, then only sixteen, is sent to Spence Academy rather abruptly. Her first friend there is roommate and scholarship student Ann Bradshaw, and shortly after, she meets witty and wealthy Felicity Worthington and the beautiful, but shallow, Pippa, at that time Felicity's best friend. All four girls strike up a rather unconventional relationship as they find themselves entangled in the mysterious Order.
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