Character guide

Nellie Robertson

major

Also known as Ellen, Ellen Robertson, Nell

The brisk, unflappable sister who finds her long-lost brother on a Tibetan plateau and must gently re-teach him the world he left behind.

Owen

supporting

A figure in the transformed world Nellie navigates, whose presence and choices test the boundaries of the new social order.

Brother John

supporting

Also known as John, Brother

A philologist who wakes after thirty lost years to a topsy-turvy America, clinging to old ideals while his sister insists human nature itself has changed.

Jerrold

supporting

Also known as Hallie, young Jerrold, Jerrold Montrose, Hallie Robertson

A young member of the next generation whose life and loves embody the startling new freedoms and arrangements of the remade world.

Uncle Jake

supporting

Also known as Jake

A stubborn old farmer who, with Aunt Dorcas, still ploughs and cooks on his mountain farm exactly as before, a living museum piece.

Aunt Dorcas

supporting

Aunt Dorcas belongs to the stubborn remnant Nellie describes as living fossils: she and Uncle Jake have not moved an inch, and visitors trek up to their little farm as if viewing the Pyramids. Her fixed habits and cheerful immunity to progress make her a living test case for the novel's central question of whether human nature itself can change. When John needs refuge from a world he cannot recognize, she represents the old order he half longs for and half fears.

Cousin Drusilla

supporting

Also known as Drusilla, little sunny-haired Drusilla

Drusilla moves through the family scenes as one of the flock of young cousins who have replaced John's vanished generation, her nickname alone signaling warmth and light. Where John stumbles over reversed ideals and strange new feelings, she embodies the untroubled confidence of people raised inside the transformed society. Her unforced happiness quietly measures the distance between the brother who slept thirty years and the world that kept living without him.

Mr. Robertson

supporting

As the elder figure of the Robertson family, he presides over the domestic order into which Nellie brings her reawakened brother, and his approval or bafflement shapes how John is received. His stake lies in the family's stability and in the strange, half-legendary brother-in-law returned from the dead, a man whose antique assumptions test even a patient patriarch's composure. He matters because the early arc of John's reeducation runs through the family drawing room, where old authority meets a world it no longer fully commands.

Mrs. Talbot

minor

Recurring character, possibly a neighbor or friend of the family.

Frank

minor

Also known as Poor Frank

Character with limited but notable presence, possibly a tragic figure.

Frank Borderson

minor

Character with a distinct name, possibly related to the Borderson family.

Dr. Harkness

minor

Doctor character, likely appears in medical or consultation scenes.

Mr. Pike

minor

Also known as Pike

Character with a recurring but limited role.

Dr. Borderson

minor

Also known as Borderson

Doctor character, possibly related to Frank Borderson.

Mrs. Allerton

minor

Character with a named but limited appearance.

Cousin John

minor

Also known as John

Cousin of the protagonist, distinct from Brother John.

Uncle John

supporting

Also known as John

The long-lost brother himself, returned from decades of oblivion to find his family scattered and his country unrecognizable.

Mrs. Masson

minor

Recurring character, possibly a friend or acquaintance.

Wells

minor

Character with a minor presence, possibly a servant or acquaintance.

Mr. Alfred Brown

minor

Also known as Mr. Brown

Character with a named but limited role.

Miss Elwell

minor

Female character with a minor but distinct presence.

Morris Banks

minor

Character with a minor role, possibly a visitor or worker.

John Robertson

minor

Family member with the Robertson surname, limited presence.

Lester Ward

minor

Also known as Ward

Character with a minor role, possibly a scholar or acquaintance.