| Sylvia | Boorstein | A Buddhist teacher. Dani's friend. |
| Pema | Chodron | A Buddhist teacher and writer. |
| Dr. Alan | DeCherney | The doctor Dani made a phone date with. |
| Luke | Dittrich | A journalist. Dani's acquaintance. |
| Edmond | Farris | The director of the Institute of Parenthood. An anatomist. |
| Leonard | Hayflick | A Professor of Anatomy. |
| Allen | Holloway | A lawyer from Chicago. |
| Bethany | Hort-Thomas | Dani's mysterious first cousin. |
| Wendy | Kramer | The creator of The Donor of Sibling Registry. |
| Mrs. | Kushner | Kushner's mother. |
| Haskel | Lookstein | An American Rabbi. |
| Ramana | Maharshi | The 20th century Indian sage. |
| Jennifer | Mendelsohn | Jennifer's brother. Dani's friend. |
| Debbie | Millman | An Artist. |
| Vladimir | Nabokov | A Russian Novelist. |
| Thomas | Reid | 19th century philosopher. |
| Cappy | Rothman | California Cryobank's founder. |
| Josef | Schneider | Children's photographer. |
| Beatrice | Shapiro | Joseph's wife. Dani Shapiro's granddaughter. |
| Dani | Shapiro | Protagonist. Narrator. Author. |
| Irene | Shapiro | Paul's wife. Dani's mother. |
| Jacob | Shapiro | Dani and Michael's son. |
| Joseph | Shapiro | Dani's grandfather. The leader of modern orthodoxy. |
| Paul | Shapiro | Dani's father. |
| Susie | Shapiro | Dani's half-sister. |
| Joseph | Soloveitchik | An American Rabbi. |
| Barry | Stevens | A Canadian filmmaker. |
| Mark | Strand | An American Poet. |
| Adam | Thomas | Bethany's husband. Dani's first cousin. |
| Kaycee | Thomas | Adam and Bethany's daughter. |
| Alice | Walden | Benjamin's mother. Dani's biological grandmother. |
| Benjamin | Walden | Dani's biological father. Adam's uncle. |
| Emily | Walden | Dani's half-sister. |
| Pilar | Walden | Benjamin's wife. |
| Eloise | Walden-Thomas | Adam's mother. |
| Doctor | Woo | Dani's tattoo artist. |
| Charlotte | | Beatrice's friend. |
| Dorothy | | Paul's ex-wife. |
| Joanne | | Dani's cousin. |
| Kushner | | Paul's friend. |
| Michael | | Dani's husband. |
| Moe | | Dani's uncle. |
| Shirley | | Dani's 92-year-old aunt. |
