Anna Tellwright

Henry Mynors

Anna is courted by and eventually engaged to Henry, a prosperous and charismatic businessman, though her feelings are conflicted between love and duty.

Willie Price

Anna feels a deep, pitying attraction to Willie, a vulnerable and tragic figure, which borders on obsessive compassion and unspoken emotional entanglement.

Agnes Tellwright

Agnes is Anna's younger half-sister, and their relationship is marked by Agnes's dependence on Anna and a quiet sibling bond.

Beatrice Sutton

Beatrice is Anna's close and loyal friend, providing warmth and social support in contrast to Anna's austere home life.

Mr. Sutton

Mr. Sutton is a respected local businessman and father of Beatrice, treating Anna with friendly paternal regard.

Ephraim Tellwright

Ephraim is Anna's miserly and domineering father, whose coldness and financial control create a tense, oppressive relationship.

Alderman Sutton

Alderman Sutton is a local dignitary and relative of Beatrice, interacting with Anna in formal social contexts.

Miss Sarah Vodrey

Anna knows Miss Vodrey as a neighbor and Willie's aunt, interacting with her in the context of Willie's troubles.

Henry Mynors

Anna is courted by and eventually engaged to Henry, a prosperous and charismatic businessman, though her feelings are conflicted between love and duty.

Henry Mynors

Anna is courted by and eventually engaged to Henry, a prosperous and charismatic businessman, though her feelings are conflicted between love and duty.

Willie Price

Anna feels a deep, pitying attraction to Willie, a vulnerable and tragic figure, which borders on obsessive compassion and unspoken emotional entanglement.

Agnes Tellwright

Agnes is Anna's younger half-sister, and their relationship is marked by Agnes's dependence on Anna and a quiet sibling bond.

Anna of the Five Towns

The protagonist, depicted as constrained by her father's tyranny and the expectations of her provincial society.

I: The Kindling of Love

Anna is the older sister of Agnes, who waits for her after Sunday-school. She walks with Mynors to the Park, feeling both fluttered and self-conscious about his attention, aware of the gossip her money might provoke.

II: The Miser’s Daughter

Anna is the central consciousness of the chapter, reflecting on her father's past and her own domestic role as she watches him and Agnes leave for chapel.

III: The Birthday

Inherits a fortune on her 21st birthday; feels overwhelmed and naive about managing money; visits the bank and then confronts Titus Price about his rent arrears.

IV: A Visit

Attends the teachers' meeting, feels self-conscious and spiritually inadequate, and is deeply influenced by Mynors' presence and prayer.

V: The Revival

Visits her schoolchildren's homes, receives her father's instructions about Mynors' proposal, and undergoes a severe spiritual crisis at the revival meeting.

VI: Willie

Anna is consumed by her spiritual crisis, feeling miserable and unable to find peace. She tries to pray and resolves to confess her sin to her father and Agnes.

VII: The Sewing Meeting

Receives and accepts the invitation to the sewing meeting, attends with trepidation, and is the object of Mynors' public declaration.

On the Bank

Anna receives her July interest and dividends, feels bewildered by the process, and visits Mynors' pottery works. She is rebuked by her father for being out.

IX: The Treat

Silent and oppressed by her father's tyranny; blushes and feels shame during Willie Price's visit; overjoyed when Mrs. Sutton secures permission for the Isle of Man trip; obtains florin for treat tickets.

X: The Isle

Anna is the central character, experiencing a mix of anticipation, guilt over using a money order secretly, and blissful bewilderment during the journey to the Isle of Man.

XI: The Downfall

Anna is consumed by guilt over Titus Price's suicide, feeling that she and her father drove him to it. She also navigates her engagement to Mynors and her father's coldness.

At the Priory

Anna endures her father's wrath and finds strength in her secret success. She later nurses Miss Vodrey and wrestles with her feelings for Willie Price.

XIII: The Bazaar

Busy with bazaar preparations; asserts her need for money for wedding clothes and house-linen; confronts her father and gains control of her bankbooks; learns of her fortune and shares in covering Titus Price's embezzlement.

XIV: End of a Simple Soul

Meets Willie Price at dawn, gives him a note and money, and later marries Mynors despite loving Willie.