# Rachel Ray — Character guide

> Key figures in Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope.

- [Rachel Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/rachel_ray.md): Rachel Ray lives quietly with her widowed mother in a cottage near Baslehurst, walking into town to see friends and dreaming of more than her sister's stern piety allows. When Luke Rowan begins courting her, she finds he
- [Luke Rowan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/luke_rowan.md): Luke Rowan arrives in Baslehurst with plans to modernize the Tappitt brewery and a determination to marry Rachel Ray, despite his mother's reservations and the Tappitts' opposition. His letters reveal a man torn between 
- [Mrs. Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mrs_ray.md): Mrs. Ray has raised her daughters in quiet widowhood, her soft nature worn down by years of deference to her eldest child's harsh judgments. When Rachel's romance with Luke Rowan becomes the talk of Baslehurst, she finds
- [Mrs. Prime](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mrs_prime.md): Dorothea Prime was widowed before twenty and has spent her years since cultivating a harsh piety that treats cheerfulness as sin and beauty as vanity. Her lumpy caps and brown bombazine announce her rejection of the worl
- [Mr. Tappitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mr_tappitt.md): Mr. Tappitt has run the Baslehurst brewery in his own comfortable way, resistant to change and resentful of the young man who wants to modernize it. When Luke presses his claims, Tappitt's pigheaded refusal to reason tra
- [Mrs. Tappitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mrs_tappitt.md): Mrs. Tappitt presides over Baslehurst society with an eye to precedence and a memory for slights, orchestrating her ball so that her daughters get the best partners and Luke Rowan is properly displayed. When Luke's atten
- [Mr. Comfort](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mr_comfort.md): As the parsonage neighbor whose counsel Mrs. Ray trusts above all others, Mr. Comfort becomes the quiet arbiter of Rachel's courtship, urging the widow to watch how things go before giving her blessing. His prudence is b
- [Butler Cornbury](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/butler_cornbury.md): Walter Cornbury arrives at Mrs. Tappitt's dance as his cousin's pet project, cheerfully claiming Rachel for the first waltz and promising to pull her through. His easy charm and political usefulness make him a bridge bet
- [Mr. Prong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mr_prong.md): Mr. Prong sits among the Dorcas meetings and tea-table devotions, pressing Rachel's hand and gently urging Dorothea to accept her mother's dinner invitation. His soft command meets his betrothed's sniff of contempt, expo
- [Dorothea Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/dorothea_ray.md): Dorothea Prime rules her circle with hard-edged righteousness, dismissing Luke Rowan as dangerous and sniffing at Mr. Prong's mild authority even as she prepares to marry him. Her certainty that everyone but herself is a
- [Mrs. Rowan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mrs_rowan.md): Luke Rowan's mother, who visits Baslehurst.
- [Mrs. Sturt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mrs_sturt.md): Wife of Farmer Sturt, a friend to the Ray family.
- [Cherry Tappitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/cherry_tappitt.md): One of the Tappitt daughters, less ambitious than her sister.
- [Augusta Tappitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/augusta_tappitt.md): Elder Tappitt daughter, hopes to marry Luke Rowan.
- [Dr. Harford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/dr_harford.md): Local physician who treats Mrs. Ray.
- [Miss Pucker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/miss_pucker.md): Spinster friend of Mrs. Prime, gossipy and judgmental.
- [Walter Cornbury](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/walter_cornbury.md): Son of Butler Cornbury, a young gentleman.
- [Patty Comfort](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/patty_comfort.md): Daughter of Mr. Comfort, marries into the Tappitt family.
- [Honyman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/honyman.md): Lawyer involved in the brewery dispute.
- [Mr. Hart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mr_hart.md): Business associate of Mr. Tappitt.
- [Mary Rowan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters/mary_rowan.md): Sister of Luke Rowan.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/rachel_ray_se/characters