| Mrs. | Barrett | Carlisle housemaid |
| Sylvia | Beach | Owns Shakespeare & Co. bookshop |
| Walter | Benjamin | Man who lost manuscript |
| Lady | Blessington | "Conversations between" on auction |
| Madam Eileen | Bowden | Lady 80 years old hired Martha |
| Patrick | Bronte | Father of Bronte sisters |
| Martha | Brown | Family housekeeper at parsonage |
| Martha | Brown | Reginald's aunt |
| Mrs. | Brown | Reginald's wife |
| Jane | Burridge | Married Lord Finley |
| Lord | Byron | Wrote book for Blessington |
| Alfred | Carlisle | Opaline's real father |
| Lyndon | Carlisle | Opaline's brother, 20 years older |
| Opaline | Carlisle | Book dealer |
| Rose | Clohessy | Martha's grandmother |
| | Clohessys | Martha's great grandparents |
| Charles | Dodgson | Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland |
| Mr. | Dunne | Official from Planning Office |
| Henry | Field | Man on sidewalk outside Martha's window |
| Lord | Finley | Married Jane Burridge |
| Matthew | Fitzpatrick | Owns nostalgia shop in Dublin |
| Elizabeth | Gakell | Biographer of Charlotte Bronte |
| Opaline | Gray | Adopted new last name |
| Mr. | Hanna | Owner Webb's bookshop |
| Alice Liddell | Hargreaves | Original Alice, daughter of Henry Liddell |
| Lathrop Colgate | Harper | Husband of Mabel and rare book dealer |
| Mabel | Harper | Wrote column in newspaper |
| Armand | Hassan | Man on board ship with Opaline |
| Ernest | Hemingway | Author invited to shop at Shakespeare & Co. |
| Dr. | Hughes | Dr. Lynch's assistant |
| Mrs. | Hughes | Works at asylum |
| James | Joyce | Sylvia's friend, wrote Ulysses |
| Herr | Lahr | Sold Lady Chatterly's Lover |
| Alfred | Law | Owned Bronte papers |
| William | Law | Owned Bronte papers |
| Harper | Lee | Wrote To Kill A Mockingbird |
| Henry | Liddell | Dean at Oxford, frend of Lewis Carroll |
| Dr. | Lynch | Connacht District Lunatic Asylum |
| Charles | Maturin | "Melmouth The Wanderer" |
| Miss | Monnier | Owns shop across the street from Shakespeare & Co. bookstore |
| Lady Sydney | Morgan | Wrote "The Wild Irish Rose" |
| Thomas Cautley | Newby | Published Bronte books |
| Arthur Bell | Nichols | Married Charlotte |
| Ellen | Nussey | Bronte correspondence |
| Frank | O'Dowd | Firing squad for cowardice |
| Sylvia | Plath | Wrote Double Exposure |
| Miss | Pritchett | Assistant to Mr. Law |
| Mr. | Ravel | Paris - visited Shakespeare & Co. |
| Abe | Rosenbach | Buyer, called "Terror of the Auction Room" |
| Egerton | Talbot | Character in Emily's book |
| Mr. | Turner | Journalist wrote article about brother |
| Josef | Wolffe | Brought supplies to Opaline |
| Adrianne | | Sylvia's partner Shakespeare & Co. |
| Agatha | | Woman at table in asylum |
| Archie | | Madam Bowden's 2nd husband |
| Austin | | Eligible bachelor Lyndon introduced |
| Barry | | Nora's husband |
| Beverly | | Retired dental nurse, classmate |
| Bingley | | Beau for Opaline from brother |
| Branwell | | Charlotte's brother |
| Celine | | Opaline's mother? Lyndon doesn't know. |
| Chantal | | Opaline's mother? Lynson doesn't know. |
| Connell | | Character in Normal People |
| Currer, Ellis, Acton Bell | | Bronte sisters wrote under name |
| Daisy | | Young girl works at asylum |
| Derrick | | Head of the department asylum |
| Isabelle | | Henry's fiancé |
| Jane | | Opaline's best friend |
| Logan | | Takes night course literature, chef |
| Lucinda | | Henry's sister |
| Marianne | | Character in Normal People |
| Martha Winter | | Went to Dublin to work |
| Mary | | Kind woman, roommate with Opaline in asylum |
| Mitch | | Shane's best friend |
| Muriel | | Matthew's wife |
| Neil | | Lucinda's husband |
| Nora | | Runs bed & breakfast Henry stays |
| Ollie | | Matthew's son |
| Papa | | Opaline's father, died 1918 |
| Patricia | | Nurse at Conacht Asylum |
| Polly | | Nurse at asylum |
| Reginald | | Owner Brown's Bookshop |
| Rose | | Tenant Egerton in love with |
| Rosenbach | | Name in letter Henry researched |
| Shane | | Martha's ex-husband |
| Sharon | | Takes care of administration at asylum |
| Vladimir | | Madam Bowen's third husband |