# Miss Coleman — At the Back of the North Wind character guide

> Miss Coleman in At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0019-xx-diamond-learns-to-read

## Snapshot

A wealthy young woman whose idleness and grief turn her into one of North Wind's most reluctant pupils, teaching Diamond that suffering visits every house.

## Who they are

Miss Coleman belongs to the household above the coach-house where Diamond's family lives, a rich man's daughter with a maid, a summerhouse, and a lover away at sea. Her fault, the narrator notes, is that she never tried to find something worth doing, and her parents never set her going. When North Wind sinks her father's ship, she loses both her lover and her home, and her sorrow becomes the quiet human cost that runs alongside Diamond's own displacement.

## Relationships

### [Diamond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/characters/diamond)

_social_

Miss Coleman is a kind young woman who teaches Diamond and shows him gentle attention.

### [Diamond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/characters/diamond)

_social_

Miss Coleman is a kind young woman who teaches Diamond and shows him gentle attention.

### [Diamond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/characters/diamond)

_social_

Miss Coleman is a kind young woman who teaches Diamond and shows him gentle attention.

## In the story

### [II: The Lawn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/chapters/ii-the-lawn)

Miss Coleman is brushing her hair by the drawing-room fire; Diamond briefly mistakes her for North Wind.

### [V: The Summerhouse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/chapters/v-the-summerhouse)

The young mistress who sits in the garden, calls Diamond to talk, and allows him to play in the garden; leaves the summerhouse as dusk falls.

### [XII: Who Met Diamond at Sandwich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/chapters/xii-who-met-diamond-at-sandwich)

Suffers from poor health exacerbated by her father's ruin and the loss of her lover at sea.

### [Diamond Goes On](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/chapters/xvii-diamond-goes-on)

Along with Mrs. Coleman, is a passenger in Diamond's father's cab; recognizes Joseph.

### [Diamond Takes a Fare the Wrong Way Right](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/chapters/xxvi-diamond-takes-a-fare-the-wrong-way-right)

Reunited with Mr. Evans thanks to Diamond; shows gratitude with a kiss and five shillings.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/characters/miss_coleman
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_back_of_the_north_wind_se/characters