In the Gemma Doyle Trilogy

Gemma Doyle Trilogy

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Libba Bray. They are told from the perspective of Gemma Doyle, a girl in the late nineteenth century...

 by Libba Bray

Libba Bray

Libba Bray is an author of young adult novels, including the books A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing and Going Bovine....

, Miss Moore plays the role of the antagonist in A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty is the first novel in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray. It is told from the perspective of Gemma Doyle, a girl in the year 1895.Gemma leaves her home in India to go to a boarding school in England after her mother dies...

 and Rebel Angels. Miss Hester Asa Moore is an anagram for her original name, Sarah Rees-Toome. She is also known under the name of Circe.

Hester Asa Moore as Sarah Rees-Toome

Sarah Reese-Toome disguised herself as Ms.Moore. She became good friends with Mary Dowd, later known to be Virginia Doyle. Sarah Rees-Toome and Mary Dowd tried to gain more power by sacrificing Mother Elena's daughter Carolina to the creatures of the winterlands. In the process, the winterland creatures try to take Sarah. Eugenia Spence trades her life for Sarah's. Afterward, the East Wing catches fire and the Realms are closed. Mary Dowd, Sarah Rees-Toome, and Euginia Spence were all presumed to have been killed in the fire of the East Wing.

Hester Asa Moore as Circe

Sarah Rees-Toome became Circe, which is discovered by Gemma in A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty is the first novel in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray. It is told from the perspective of Gemma Doyle, a girl in the year 1895.Gemma leaves her home in India to go to a boarding school in England after her mother dies...

.

Miss Moore in A Great and Terrible Beauty

Sarah resurfaces as Hester Asa Moore, an art teacher at Spence. She takes particular interest in Gemma (who turns out to be Mary's daughter) and her friends (who start an Order of their own). Miss Moore is fired for taking the girls into the mysterious caves on Spence's grounds and reading Mary Dowd's diary aloud to Gemma, Ann, Felicity, and Pippa.

Miss Moore in Rebel Angels

Miss Moore resurfaces again in Rebel Angels as Gemma's acquaintance. While Gemma uses her as a confidante, Miss Moore is really interested in Gemma and Nell Hawkins, an "insane" girl with delusions about the Order. Gemma discovers (through visions with 3 girls) that the three girls were to be Miss Moore's second attempt at a sacrifice, which still wasn't adequate. She did not want to sacrifice Nell Hawkins, as she became attached to her (we see a similarity to Gemma) and Nell is forced into insanity in an attempt to block her mind from "the thing."
Gemma rushes into Miss Moore's house to ask for help only to discover from her signature (Hester Asa Moore) that it is an anagram of Sarah Rees Toome, and that she therefore is Circe. Circe is destroyed when she ventures with Gemma into the realms and takes Nell Hawkins hostage. Gemma kills Nell in order to free her, and by doing so earns the power to bind the magic.

Miss Moore in The Sweet Far Thing

Although initially assumed to be dead by Gemma, Ann, and Felicity, Gemma discovers that Circe is alive and trapped in a well inside of the Temple. She tells Gemma that she is trapped, and will die when the magic is returned to the Temple. She also requests for a bit of magic before she dies in exchange for information. With the bit of magic, Circe is able to escape, but chooses to save her energy in order to better obtain control over the Realm's magic. When the time comes, she leaves the well in order to kill the corrupted form of Eugenia Spence with the magic dagger. She is taken by the Tree of All Souls, and dies when Gemma is taken by the tree. She meets Gemma in the place between life and death, and tells her that she knew Eugenia Spence was evil all along. She admits to wanting to save Gemma from Eugenia, third to saving herself and obtaining the Realm's power. Gemma states "Yes, but I was third". Gemma gives Circe her place in the land of the past members of the Order, assumed to be a sort of heaven. It is with this act that Gemma and Circe end their highly complex relationship.