# The Secret City — Character guide

> Key figures in The Secret City by Hugh Walpole.

- [Vera Michailovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/vera_michailovna.md): A woman of grave beauty and quiet independence, she presides over her household with a soul the narrator senses is still asleep and untouched.
- [Nina Michailovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/nina_michailovna.md): Vera's younger sister, all laughter, sweets, and clashing ribbons, she flirts and quarrels with Boris Grogoff while war and Russia trouble her not at all.
- [Henry Bohun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/henry_bohun.md): A young Englishman abroad, he arrives full of artistic pretensions and schoolgirl enthusiasm, only to find himself profoundly wretched until Vera Michailovna takes him in hand.
- [Alexei Petrovitch Semyonov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/alexei_petrovitch_semyonov.md): A Russian intellectual serving on the Galician front, his name alone is enough to stir the narrator's buried memories of a year he has tried hard to forget.
- [Nicholas Markovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/nicholas_markovitch.md): Vera's anxious, untidy husband, he loves her with a dog's desperate devotion and is tormented by the suspicion that she does not, and cannot, love him back.
- [Jerry Lawrence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/jerry_lawrence.md): A Cambridge man who spent his first fifteen years in Russia and refuses to speak of it, he is transferred to Petrograd against his will and meets Bohun on the Jupiter.
- [Boris Nicolaievitch Grogoff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/boris_grogoff.md): No relation to the family, Boris Nicolaievitch Grogoff is a handsome, curly-haired internationalist who spends most of his time in the Markovitch flat, declaiming at the top of his voice or glaring moodily at the floor. 
- [Ivan Andreievitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/ivan_andreievitch.md): Ivan Andreievitch is the quiet English boarder who becomes, by Christmas, a member of the Markovitch family — patronised by Boris, treated with friendly indifference by Nina, trusted by Vera. Past the age of romance, he 
- [Nicolai Leontievitch Markovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/nicolai_leontievitch_markovitch.md): Nicolai Leontievitch is the dreamy, ink-stained inventor of the Markovitch household, perched on a one-legged chair under a barred window, coaxing small explosions from his materials while his wife Vera manages the money
- [Baron Wilderling](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/baron_wilderling.md): A German diplomat or aristocrat with a role in the political backdrop.
- [John Trenchard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/john_trenchard.md): An English character, possibly a journalist or traveler in Petrograd.
- [Uncle Alexei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/uncle_alexei.md): An older relative, possibly of Vera and Nina, offering familial support.
- [M. Durward](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/m_durward.md): A French or foreign character, possibly a diplomat or businessman.
- [Durdles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/durdles.md): A comic or eccentric character, possibly a servant or local figure.
- [Marie Ivanovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/marie_ivanovna.md): A female character, possibly a friend or relative of the family.
- [Burrows](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/burrows.md): An English character, possibly a colleague or acquaintance of Lawrence.
- [Rasputin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/rasputin.md): The historical mystic, mentioned as a figure of influence in Petrograd.
- [The Rat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/the_rat.md): A nickname for a sly or untrustworthy character, possibly a spy.
- [The Baroness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_city_se/characters/the_baroness.md): A female aristocrat, possibly related to Baron Wilderling.

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