Character guide

Leilah Verplank

major

Also known as Leilah, Verplank, Already Verplank, Roughly Verplank, Leilah Barouffska

A woman who consents to scandal with open eyes, insisting on daylight and no concealment even as she walks toward her last look at the world.

Violet Silverstairs

major

Also known as Violet, Silverstairs, The Silverstairs, Already Violet, Impatiently Violet, Amiably Silverstairs

A mondaine who loves a splendidly obtuse husband without illusions, and who reads Leilah's karma and cigarettes with equal suspicion.

Barouffski

major

Also known as Monsieur Barouffski, this Barouffski, le Comte Barouffski, Ragingly Barouffski, the latter Barouffski, Divorce Barouffski, The champagne Barouffski

A count who rolls a burning woman in tapestry to save her, then calls daily until Violet suspects he set the fire himself.

Howard Tempest

major

Also known as Tempest, Howard, Lord Howard Tempest, Lord Howard, the late Lord Howard

A lord who answers fate with Madeira and a dead philosopher, gloved in silk and absent when the glass sweeps the house.

Aurelia

supporting

Also known as Delicately Aurelia, Maliciously Aurelia, Dreamily Aurelia

An ingénue who defines love as the affection of somebody else and keeps Buttercups engaged only on the condition that she may be again.

Gulian

supporting

The man Leilah begs to kill her rather than leave her, whose trembling arms and hot flush undo every barricade she has raised.

De Fresnoy

supporting

Also known as de Fresnoy

De Fresnoy belongs to the same gilded Parisian set as the Silverstairs, the Helley-Quetgens, and the Barouffskis, and his name surfaces at the Opéra as a marker of how quickly scandal is absorbed and replaced. His duel with Barouffski — dismissed by onlookers as ridiculous — hints at a temper or a grievance that polite society has already agreed to forget, and Silverstairs predicts he will soon fight d'Arcy next. He matters less as an actor than as a barometer: the ease with which his violence is forgiven measures the moral slack of the world Leilah must navigate.

Count Kasimiérz Barouffski

supporting

Also known as Barouffski, the Count Kasimiérz Barouffski, Count

Barouffski moves through Leilah's life as both husband-figure and predator, having struck her physically and loosed the dogs on Verplank, yet he insists the law is on his side and that time will soften her memory of his cruelties. His jealousy is less about love than about control: he reads d'Arcy as a fortune-hunter after her bankbook, and privately admits the real menace is his own earlier failure to secure the box when the golden six was tossed him. He matters because he embodies the trap Leilah is trying to escape — a man whose respectability is a weapon and whose patience is a threat.

D'Arcy

supporting

Also known as d'Arcy

D'Arcy is the newest figure in Leilah's orbit, seated at her right at the Opéra and seen with her in the Champs Élysées, a proximity Violet Silverstairs insists no honest woman could permit. He neither eats nor drinks, keeping a hand over his glasses so that he may do nothing but talk — a pose Barouffski reads as predatory and Violet reads as scandalous. He matters because he is the fresh variable in an already poisoned equation, the man whose mere presence forces Leilah's reputation and Barouffski's jealousy into open view.

Emmanuel

minor

Also known as Swiftly Emmanuel

A servant or attendant who observes the main events.

Mrs. Verplank

supporting

Also known as Verplank, the too charming Verplank, the deadly Verplank

Mrs. Verplank is the woman at the center of the Verplank affair — the one who told Gulian she had taken Barouffski as a barricade between them, then flushed when he pressed her, revealing relations and consequences she had not admitted. She is desired, judged, and discussed at the Opéra and the club, where her daily presence at the Ritz is tallied against her supposed meetings with d'Arcy. She matters because her divided will — wanting one thing, doing another — is the engine of the novel's central crisis, and because the men around her keep mistaking her body for a territory to be won.

Lady Silverstairs

minor

The mother of Violet Silverstairs, a social arbiter.

Lord Buttercups

minor

Also known as Buttercups, Blankly Buttercups, Helplessly Buttercups, the flustered Buttercups

A bumbling aristocrat who provides comic relief.

Madame Barouffska

minor

Also known as a Madame Barouffska, whom I want you to meet, Madame la comtesse Barouffska, Barouffska, madame la comtesse Barouffska

The countess, wife of the elder Barouffski.

Lord Silverstairs

minor

Also known as Silverstairs

The father of Violet, a quiet but influential lord.

Marie de Fresnoy

minor

Also known as de Fresnoy, Marie

A young woman of the Fresnoy family.

Camille de Joyeuse

minor

Also known as de Joyeuse

A young member of the Joyeuse family.

M. Verplank

minor

Also known as Verplank

A male member of the Verplank family.

Baron de Fresnoy

minor

Also known as de Fresnoy

The baron of the Fresnoy family.

Tyszkiewicz

minor

Also known as Monsieur Tyszkiewicz

A Polish nobleman who appears in social gatherings.

The Master

minor

A mysterious authority figure referenced by servants.

Mme. de Fresnoy

minor

Also known as Mme, Mme . de Fresnoy, de Fresnoy

The wife of De Fresnoy, a society lady.

Palencia

minor

Also known as Pal - Palencia

A Spanish or Italian visitor with a brief role.

Baronne de Fresnoy

minor

Also known as the Baronne de Fresnoy, Baronne de Fresnoy, The young Baronne de Fresnoy, the young Baronne de Fresnoy, de Fresnoy

A young baroness, possibly a relative of De Fresnoy.

Mme. de Joyeuse

minor

Also known as Mme, de Joyeuse, Mme . de Joyeuse, Mme .

A French noblewoman who hosts social events.

Madame Verplank

minor

Also known as Verplank

Another Verplank matriarch, possibly Leilah's mother.

Louis

minor

A servant or minor character in the household.

Prince Farnese

minor

Also known as Farnese

An Italian prince who appears briefly.

De Joyeuse

minor

Also known as Joyeuse

The patriarch of the Joyeuse family.

The Helley-Quetgens

minor

Also known as The Helley - Quetgens

A family or couple mentioned in social circles.

Léopold

minor

A minor character, possibly a musician or artist.

Ernestine

minor

A maid or companion to one of the main ladies.

Hilda Hemingway

minor

Also known as Hemingway, Hilda

An Englishwoman who visits the social scene.

The Vidya

minor

A mysterious Eastern figure or concept referenced.

Miss Ogston

minor

A young woman who appears in a social context.

Matlack Ogston

minor

A male relative of Miss Ogston.

Apollonius

minor

A classical reference or minor character name.

Marguerite

minor

Also known as the Reine Margot

A historical figure referenced in conversation.

M. de Joyeuse

minor

Also known as de Joyeuse

A male member of the Joyeuse family.

Padapoulos

minor

A Greek character who appears briefly.

Madame la princesse Zubaroff

minor

Also known as Zubaroff

A Russian princess mentioned in society.

Parker

minor

A servant or butler in the household.