# The Venetians — Character guide

> Key figures in The Venetians by M. E. Braddon.

- [Eve Marchant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/eve_marchant.md): Eve Marchant is Colonel Marchant's motherless daughter, raised in social disgrace among four sisters and an impossible father, yet never less than a lady. Jack Vansittart loves her for her plain honesty, but his county f
- [Jack Vansittart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/jack_vansittart.md): Jack Vansittart is master of a handsome estate and three or four thousand a year, answerable to no one but his devoted, county-proud mother. He proposes to Eve Marchant within days of meeting her, dismissing the corvée o
- [Lisa Vivanti](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/lisa_vivanti.md): Lisa Vivanti, eldest of a swarm of children, escapes a brutal father and a life of being one mouth too many when Vansittart installs her and her aunt in a furnished London flat under the name Smith. She is impulsive, une
- [Mr. Sefton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/mr_sefton.md): Mr. Sefton is the kind of old acquaintance whose word carries weight and whose connections reach further than anyone expects. He vouches for Ferrari, the tireless courier who once pulled Sefton's own father from the Gran
- [Sophy Marchant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/sophy_marchant.md): Sophy Marchant is one of Eve's four sisters, the one noted for tact in a household where tact is scarce and their father's conduct makes every social encounter a hazard. She belongs to the awkward cluster of dependents —
- [Peggy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/peggy.md): Peggy is the youngest-seeming of the Marchant sisters, addressed with the affectionate diminutives — dear Miss Peggy, poor little Peggy — that signal both fondness and fragility. She lives inside the same shabby househol
- [Wilfred Sefton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/wilfred_sefton.md): A member of the Sefton family, likely a younger man whose actions create conflict or romance.
- [John Vansittart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/john_vansittart.md): A senior Vansittart, possibly the patriarch, whose marriage and family are central to the plot.
- [Maud Hartley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/maud_hartley.md): A young woman, possibly a Hartley, whose fate becomes intertwined with the Vansittarts.
- [la Zia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/la_zia.md): An aunt figure, likely Italian, who serves as a guardian or chaperone with strong opinions.
- [Signora Vivanti](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/signora_vivanti.md): An older Italian woman, likely Lisa's mother or relative, who is a presence in the Venetian setting.
- [Sir Hubert Hartley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/sir_hubert_hartley.md): A baronet, likely Maud's father, whose family connections and personal troubles affect the narrative.
- [Fiordelisa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/fiordelisa.md): A poetic or symbolic name, possibly an alter ego or ideal, referenced in the narrative.
- [Hetty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/hetty.md): Hetty is the youngest Marchant sister, a girl so absorbed in novelty and motion that she leaves little room for anyone else's feelings — yet her contagious delight in railway carriages and Lucerne sunsets is precisely wh
- [Colonel Marchant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/colonel_marchant.md): Colonel Marchant is a Bohemian gambler whose name is a byword for ruin among parents and guardians of young men of fortune; his son Harold is darker still, a swindler and forger whose shadow falls across his blameless si
- [Miss Marchant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/miss_marchant.md): Miss Marchant — Eve — is the sister Vansittart chooses against all worldly advice, a girl 'simple and straightforward, never affecting to be rich when she was poor.' Her betrothal to a man of three or four thousand a yea
- [Lady Hartley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/lady_hartley.md): Lady Hartley moves through the novel's drawing-rooms as a figure of established grace, the kind of woman whose approval or hesitation can make or unmake a match. Her warmth toward the young people around her is genuine, 
- [Mr. Tivett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/mr_tivett.md): Mr. Tivett is the lively, coquettish bachelor who saves Mrs. Fotheringay's Mechlin and secures the belle of the ball's first waltz in the same evening — a man whose small vanities make him indispensable to the social mac
- [Paolo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/paolo.md): An Italian character, possibly a gondolier or servant, part of the Venetian local color.
- [Harold Marchant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/harold_marchant.md): Harold Marchant is the darker character than even his disreputable father — a forger and swindler whose crimes make him the specific dread of the Vansittart family's legal counsel. His sister Eve is blameless, but societ
- [Benson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/benson.md): A servant or butler, likely in the Vansittart or Marchant household, providing domestic continuity.
- [Miss Green](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/miss_green.md): A minor female character, possibly a governess or companion, with limited but notable appearances.
- [Signor Zinco](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/signor_zinco.md): An Italian man, possibly a musician or artist, part of the local scene.
- [Nancy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/nancy.md): An honest, older servant from Yorkshire, likely in a household, providing loyalty and local color.
- [the doctor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/the_doctor.md): A medical professional called upon in times of illness or crisis.
- [Claudia Champernowne](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/claudia_champernowne.md): One of the Champernowne sisters, a family that appears in the social background.
- [Mrs. Pembroke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/mrs_pembroke.md): A married woman, likely part of the social circle, with a minor role.
- [Father](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/father.md): A generic reference to a father figure, possibly a priest or paternal character.
- [The Miss Marchants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/the_miss_marchants.md): The Miss Marchants are a sisterhood whose numbers and reduced circumstances make them a social liability in the eyes of Vansittart's relatives, even as Eve's betrothal draws them into the orbit of a wealthy, independent 
- [Dr. Bright](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_venetians_se/characters/dr_bright.md): A doctor, possibly a specialist, with a minor role in a medical or social context.

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