| James |
Baldwin | American writer and civil rights activist |
| Jean |
Baudrillard | French sociologist and philosopher |
| James |
Blake | English singer-songwriter and record producer |
| Caryl |
Churchill | British playwright |
| Bill |
Clinton | 42nd President of the United States |
| Bobbi |
Connolly | Frances's charismatic, opinionated best friend and ex-lover |
| Sam |
Cooke | American singer-songwriter |
| Bradley |
Cooper | American actor and filmmaker |
| Gilles |
Deleuze | French philosopher |
| Robert |
Fisk | English writer and journalist |
| Frances |
Flynn | Intelligent, introspective, and often insecure protagonist |
| Greta |
Gerwig | American actress, director, and screenwriter |
| Cary |
Grant | American actor |
| Françoise |
Hardy | French singer-songwriter and actress |
| Billie |
Holiday | American jazz singer |
| John |
Keats | English poet |
| Chris |
Kraus | American writer and filmmaker |
| Will |
Ladislaw | Fictional character from *Middlemarch* |
| Angela |
Lansbury | British-American actress and singer |
| Patricia |
Lockwood | American poet and novelist |
| Arthur |
Miller | American playwright and essayist |
| Joni |
Mitchell | Canadian-American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist |
| Joanna |
Newsom | American singer-songwriter and actress |
| Ronald |
Reagan | 40th President of the United States |
| Elizabeth |
Taylor | British-American actress |
| Tennessee |
Williams | American playwright and screenwriter |
| William Butler |
Yeats | Irish poet and former Senator of the Irish Free State |
| Slavoj |
Žižek | Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic |
| Alan |
| Frances's cousin |
| Andrew |
| Marianne's boyfriend |
| Bernie |
| Frances's aunt |
| Camille |
| Girl Philip had started seeing |
| Chris |
| Man Melissa had been dating |
| Darren |
| Bank employee |
| David |
| Bobbi's new acquaintance |
| Dennis |
| Frances's father |
| Derek |
| Evelyn's husband |
| Eleanor |
| Bobbi's mother |
| Evelyn |
| Melissa's friend |
| Jerry |
| Bobbi's father |
| Jim |
| Laura's husband |
| Laura |
| Nick's sister |
| Lewis |
| Editor of a Dublin literary journal |
| Liese |
| Girl Frances knew in the past |
| Linda |
| Manager of a coffee shop |
| Louisa |
| Worked at Starbucks |
| Lydia |
| Bobbi's sister |
| Maggie |
| Onstage actress in a play Frances attends |
| Marianne |
| Frances's friend |
| Melissa |
| Sophisticated journalist and photographer |
| Nick |
| Melissa's husband; an actor |
| Paul |
| Dennis's friend |
| Philip |
| University acquaintance who helps Frances enter the publishing world |
| Rachel |
| Laura's daughter |
| Rebecca |
| Little girl Frances meets at the hospital |
| Rossa |
| Young man Frances meets on Tinder |
| Sunny |
| Director of the literary agency where Frances works |
| Valerie |
| Melissa's friend |
