# Sophia — Short Fiction character guide

> Sophia in Short Fiction by Thomas Hardy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Sophy

**First appearance:** 0002-destiny-and-a-blue-cloak

## Snapshot

A woman who writes another's love letters with such feeling that she falls in love with the man herself, weeping over a happiness she can only imagine.

## Who they are

Sophia inhabits the strange position of ghostwriter for her mistress's romance, composing tender letters to Raye that she feels more truly than the woman they are meant for. When Anna's pregnancy forces a crisis, Sophia's counsel and her own suppressed longing collide, and she bows over her chair murmuring 'I wish it was mine.' Her divided loyalty—to the girl she protects and the man she loves through borrowed words—makes her the emotional center of the story's unraveling.

## In the story

### [How I Built Myself a House](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/how-i-built-myself-a-house)

The narrator's wife, whose enthusiasm for the new house wanes after initial intense involvement.

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/xvii)

Not present in this chapter.

### [The Son's Veto](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/the-son-s-veto)

The protagonist, a rector's widow constrained by her son's class prejudices.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/i)

The protagonist, now a lame woman in a wheeled chair, reflecting on her past as a parlourmaid and her marriage to the vicar.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/ii)

Now a widow, living in a suburban villa, feeling isolated and longing for her native village.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/iii)

Sophy Twycott, a widow, longs to marry Sam Hobson but is constrained by her son's disapproval and her own sense of duty.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/sophia
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters