Character guide

Unknown (Narrator)

major

Also known as I, me, my stranger, a stranger

She moves through the world as a curiosity others claim to cherish, yet her sharpest hunger is not to be loved but to find someone capable of making her love in return. Her wit defends her from the clumsiness of friends like Mr. Crimble, whose helpless passion she can pity but never requite, and from Fanny's careless cruelties. Her voice — mocking, tender, star-hungry — is the book's whole weather, and her struggle to steer her own fate drives every early chapter.

Mrs. Bowater

major

Also known as Bowater, the excellent Mrs. Bowater

Practical, gloomy-proud, and quietly generous, she takes the tiny stranger in when the world offers only stares, and her grudging admission that her husband's astronomy book is accurate becomes the doorway to the narrator's lifelong passion for the stars. She is mother enough to Fanny to be baffled by her, and steady enough to anchor the book's early domestic world. Her kindness matters because it proves the narrator can be at home somewhere.

Fanny Bowater

major

Also known as Miss Bowater, Fanny, idle Fanny

Slim as a mast and already gilded with Mrs. Monnerie's worldly polish, Fanny treats the narrator as confidante, rival, and audience by turns, dispensing fables and small cruelties with the same light hand. Her careless power over Mr. Crimble — and her refusal to be reached by him — exposes the gap between being adored and being known. Her restlessness pulls the narrator out of the Bowater household and into the wider, harder world.

Mr. Crimble

major

Also known as Crimble, poor Mr. Crimble

Small-handed and large-eyed, he pours his bewilderment into the narrator's unwilling ear, unable to bear the thought of Fanny and others, unable to speak to her mother, unable to let her go. His helplessness is both touching and suffocating, and the narrator's cowardly acquiescence in Fanny's deceits speeds him toward his Jericho. He is the book's first great study in love as a sealed book — and the cost of being unable to read it.

Lord B.

supporting

Also known as Lord B. Mrs. Monnerie, Monnerie

He exists at the edge of the narrator's new life as a name that opens doors and a presence that must be reckoned with, his world of Monk's House and Croomham drawing her further from the Bowaters. The summons sent in Mrs. Monnerie's name — however much Fanny may have stretched it — marks the moment the narrator's health and fortunes become a matter for the great. His world is the gilded trap the book's middle chapters test her against.

Mrs. Monnerie

supporting

Also known as the honourable Mrs. Monnerie, Monnerie

She speaks of the narrator as a 'toadlet' and a 'feast of mercies' in the same breath, parading her through palisaded gardens while her nephew Percy yawns and her dog Cherry sneers. Her drowsy vigilance and long-handled parasol conceal a will that arranges other people's lives for its own amusement. She is the book's great portrait of fashionable condescension, and the narrator's years under her shadow test whether a small person can ever be more than a spectacle.

Mr. Bowater

supporting

Also known as Fanny Bowater, Mr. Fanny Bowater

Mr. Bowater hovers over Mrs. Bowater's little household as a memory she invokes with gloomy pride — a man whose looks promised more than his life delivered. His old volume of star charts, pulled dusty from the shelf, becomes the narrator's first true inheritance, teaching her Orion and Betelgeuse by firelight. That accidental gift of the heavens shapes her inner life and her craving for a wider world beyond the hill.

Pollie

minor

Also known as rolled Pollie, poor Pollie

A servant or working-class woman known to the Bowater household.

Adam Waggett

supporting

Also known as Adam, Waggett, Poor Adam

Adam Waggett squeezes into Mrs. Monnerie's library like a startled Guy Fawkes, all button eyes and strangulated laughter at the sight of a face from Stonecote. His doltish affection and total inability to dissemble make him both comic and dangerous, since one careless word about the old cow and the thunderstorm could betray the narrator's carefully guarded position. He embodies the pull of her past and the precariousness of her present disguise.

Susan Monnerie

minor

Also known as Sukie, Poor Susan

A younger relative or acquaintance of Mrs. Monnerie.

Miss M.

supporting

Also known as M., Dear Miss M., Luckless Miss M.

Miss M. moves between Mrs. Bowater's quiet house and the glitter of grand invitations, studying the passions of others with a mistress's eye while her own life waits. She intercepts letters, weighs Mr. Crimble's hopes against Fanny's evasions, and admits she has no candle to see into that dark mind. Her self-mocking honesty and hunger for experience make her the still center of a spinning social world.

Lady Pollacke

minor

Also known as Pollacke

A titled older woman, possibly a relative of Sir Walter.

Midgetina

minor

Also known as Dear Midgetina

A pet name or alter ego for the narrator.

Mr. Anon

minor

Also known as Dear Mr. Anon, young Mr. Anon

A pseudonymous or mysterious male correspondent.

Dr. Phelps

minor

Also known as Phelps

A physician consulted by the characters.

Miss Fenne

minor

Also known as Poor Miss Fenne

A woman of some misfortune mentioned in the story.

Sir Walter Pollacke

supporting

Also known as Walter, Sir Walter, Walter Pollacke

Sir Walter Pollacke belongs to the great house whose carriage and bonnets frame the narrator's first ventures into society, a world where Lady Pollacke's cordiality carries an edge of appraisal. His presence shadows the invitation that both flatters and depresses her, since Mr. Crimble's troubles and the boys' gossip make every social gesture double-edged. He stands for the polite, watchful order she must navigate without ever quite belonging to it.

Miss M. Percy

minor

Also known as Percy, Miss M., An unfamiliar Miss M.

A young woman possibly related to the Percy family.

Mrs. Petrie

minor

A married woman of the local society.

Mr. Ambrose Pellew

minor

Also known as Mr. Pellew

A gentleman with a role in the later plot.

Fleming

minor

Also known as Poor Fleming

A character who suffers some hardship.

Rose

minor

Also known as Rosie

A young woman or child in the narrative.

Henry

minor

A male character, possibly a servant or relative.

Mrs. Ballard

minor

A woman who appears in the social circle.

Lord Chiltern

minor

A nobleman mentioned in passing.

Marvell

minor

Also known as Mr. Marvell

A man with a possible romantic interest.

Mrs. Percy Maudlen

minor

Also known as Percy Maudlen, Percy

A married woman of the Percy family.

Signorina Donna Angélique

minor

Also known as Signorina, Angélique

An Italian or French performer or visitor.

Midget Lyndsey

minor

Also known as Midget, Lyndsey, Egocentric Midget

Another small person, possibly a rival or friend.

Mr. Wagginhorne

minor

Also known as old Mr. Wagginhorne

An older gentleman of the area.

Mother Grundy

minor

Also known as Mother

A personification of conventional propriety.

Mrs. Marvell

minor

Also known as Marvell

The wife or mother of Mr. Marvell.

Monsieur Crapaud

minor

Also known as Crapaud

A French character, possibly a tutor or visitor.

Bates

minor

Also known as Mr. Bates

A servant or minor functionary in the household.

Miss Bullace

minor

A spinster or governess figure in the story.

Aunt Alice

minor

Also known as Dear Aunt Alice, Alice

An aunt of one of the main characters.

Mrs. Stocks

minor

A local woman of some standing.

Little Binbin

minor

Also known as pretty Binbin

A child or pet-like figure in the story.

Sir W.

minor

Also known as Sir, Sir W. P.

An abbreviated reference to a knight or baronet.

Mrs. Crimble

minor

Mr. Crimble's wife, mentioned briefly.

Mrs. Sheppey

minor

A minor character in the household.

Lydia Preston Pollacke

minor

A relative of the Pollacke family.

Miaou

minor

A cat or cat-like creature in the story.

Chakka

minor

Also known as the aged Chakka

An elderly servant or exotic figure.

Cherry

minor

A young woman or child, possibly a servant.

Mrs. French

minor

A woman of the local community.

Dr. Grose

minor

A doctor consulted by the characters.

Mr. Hubbins

minor

Also known as poor Mr. Hubbins

A man of some misfortune in the tale.

Kitilda

minor

A female character with a brief appearance.

Caroline Crachami

minor

Also known as Caroline, Mlle . Caroline Crachami

A Sicilian dwarf mentioned as a historical figure.

Captain Valentine

minor

A military man appearing in the narrative.

Poppet

minor

A term of endearment or a child character.

Mr. Waggett

minor

Adam Waggett's father or relative.

Will Arbuthnot

minor

Also known as Willie Arbuthnot

A young man in the social circle.

Mr. Clodd

minor

A minor character, possibly a tradesman.

Mr. Padgwick - Steggall

minor

A character with a hyphenated name.

Miss Templemaine

minor

Also known as a Miss Templemaine

A young woman of the Templemaine family.

Mr. Monnerie

minor

Mrs. Monnerie's husband or male relative.

Miss Stebbings

minor

A minor female character.

Mrs. Bullace

minor

Miss Bullace's mother or relative.

Miss Monnerie

minor

A younger Miss Monnerie.

Plum

minor

A child or pet name in the story.

Pretty Pusskin

minor

A cat or kitten in the narrative.

Mopsa

minor

A fairy or childlike character.

Emma E. Fenne

minor

A full name for Miss Fenne.

The Reverend Harold

minor

Also known as Harold

A clergyman in the story.

Bob Halibut

minor

Also known as Bob

A minor male character.

Mrs. Pellew

minor

Mr. Ambrose Pellew's wife or relative.

Sir Jasper Goodge

minor

Also known as the hideous old Sir Jasper Goodge

An ugly old baronet mentioned briefly.

Bel

minor

Also known as poor Ann Colling, Mary

A group or single female name in the text.