Jenny missing - Cup & Lip?

I enjoyed your essay. I don't agree with all of it, but you may be right. But how could you leave Jenny Wren out of the list of interesting characters? She is one of my all time favorites.

Also, what does the title of Book 1 refer to? I understand the others, but "The Cup and the Lip" just doesn't make any sense to me.

Madj,
The reference is to the expression, "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip". In other words, the simple act of raising a cup to one's lips can go awry and the cup slip from one's grasp, or one can spill the contents. What all this means, is that plans often go wrong.