Louisa May | Alcott | American novelist, short story writer. |
Christiane | Amanpour | British-Iranian journalist and television host. |
Lee | Atwater | American political consultant. |
W. H. | Auden | British-American poet. |
W. H. | Auden | British-American poet. |
Caesar | Augustus | Former Roman emperor. |
Jane | Austen | English novelist. |
Dr. Shamail | Azimi | The first woman doctor to return to Afghanistan. |
Russell | Banks | American writer of fiction and poetry. |
Muriel | Barbery | French novelist and philosophy teacher. |
Mikhail | Baryshnikov | Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor. |
Ishmael | Beah | Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist. |
Thomas | Becket | Archbishop of Canterbury. |
Alan | Bennett | English actor, author, playwright, and screenwriter. |
George | Best | Northern Irish professional footballer. |
Elizabeth | Bishop | American poet and short-story writer. |
Roberto | Bolaño | Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. |
Freddie | Brisson | A producer. |
Geraldine | Brooks | American-Australian journalist and novelist. |
Pieter | Bruegel | An artist. |
George W. | Bush | 43rd U.S. President. |
Lewis | Carroll | English writer of children's fiction. |
Charlie | Chaplin | English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer. |
Bob | Chapman | A professor. |
Sindy | Cheung | One of the refugees. |
Julia | Child | The house owner. |
Agatha | Christie | English writer. |
Carina | Ciscato | A Brazilian potter. |
Clarice | Cliff | English ceramic artist. |
Karen | Connelly | Canadian travel writer, novelist and poet. |
Pat | Conroy | American author. |
Hans | Coper | German-born British studio potter. |
Colin | Cotterill | London-born teacher, comic book writer and cartoonist. |
Nessa | Coyle | A nurse practitioner. |
Roald | Dahl | British novelist, short-story writer, poet, and screenwriter. |
Edmund | de Waal | English artist, master potter and author. |
John | Denver | American singer-songwriter. |
Charles | Dickens | English writer and social critic. |
Joan | Didion | American writer. |
John | Dixon | Australian comic book artist. |
Siobhan | Dowd | British writer and activist. |
Quintana Roo | Dunne | Joan Didion's daughter. |
Mildred | Dunnock | A drama teacher. Aka: Millie. |
Nancy | Dupree | American historian. |
Bob | Dylan | American singer-songwriter. |
Dave | Eggers | American writer, editor, and publisher. |
Albert | Einstein | Theoretical physicist. |
T. S. | Eliot | A poet, essayist, publisher. |
Ralph Waldo | Emerson | American essayist, lecturer, and philosopher. |
F. Scott | Fitzgerald | American essayist, novelist, screenwriter, and short-story writer. |
Zelda | Fitzgerald | American novelist, socialite, and painter. |
Ian | Fleming | English author, journalist. |
Dr. Kathleen | Foley | Nina's friend. |
Ken | Follett | Welsh author. |
Esther | Forbes | American novelist, historian. |
E. M. | Forster | English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. |
Varian | Fry | One of the key figures in the history of the Int'l Rescue Committee. |
Clark | Gable | American film actor. |
Erle Stanley | Gardner | American lawyer and author. |
Nikki | Giovanni | American poet. |
Nikki | Giovanni | American poet. |
William | Golding | British novelist, playwright, and poet. |
Sue | Grafton | American author of detective novels. |
Hugh | Grant | English actor and film producer. |
Günter | Grass | German novelist, poet, playwright. |
David | Halberstam | American writer, journalist, and historian. |
Susan | Halpern | A social worker and psychotherapist. |
Mohsin | Hamid | British-Pakistani novelist. |
Patricia | Highsmith | American novelist and short story writer. |
Alfred | Hitchcock | English film director and producer. |
Adolf | Hitler | German politician and leader of the Nazi Party. |
Andrew | Holleran | American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. |
Khaled | Hosseini | American novelist and physician. |
Leslie | Howard | English stage and film actor. |
John | Irving | American-Canadian novelist and screenwriter. |
Christopher | Isherwood | An Anglo-American novelist, playwright,a screenwriter. |
Yoshimoto | Ishin | Japanese businessman. |
Paul | Jenkins | American abstract expressionist painter. |
Jerome K. | Jerome | English writer and humorist. |
Crockett | Johnson | American cartoonist. |
Jon | Kabat-Zinn | American professor emeritus of medicine. |
Walter | Kaiser | Mary Anne's lifelong friend. |
Mariatu | Kamara | An author and survivor of the civil war in Sierra Leon. |
Hamid | Karzai | Former President of Afghanistan. |
Chris | Keenan | The potter. |
Jacquelne | Kennedy | Former First Lady of the United States. |
John F. | Kennedy | 35th U.S. President. |
Robert F. | Kennedy | Former United States Attorney General. Aka: Bobby. |
John | Kermue | Mary Anne's acquaintance. |
John | Kermue | One of Mary Anne's friends. |
Ly | Kham | Mary Anne and Nina's friend. |
Carole | King | American singer-songwriter. |
Larry | King | American television and radio host. |
Martin Luther | King, Jr. | American Christian minister and activist. |
Emma | Kirkby | An English soprano. |
Gelsey | Kirkland | American ballerina. |
Larry | Kramer | Mary Anne's great friend. |
Aung San Suu | Kyi | State Counselor of Myanmar. |
Jhumpa | Lahiri | American author. |
Anne | Lamott | American novelist and non-fiction writer. |
Theresa | Lang | A philanthropist. |
Stieg | Larsson | Swedish journalist and writer. |
Victor | LaValle | American author. |
William | Lawrence | Bishop of Massachusetts. |
Munro | Leaf | American author of children's literature. |
Dennis | Lehane | American author. |
Donna | Leon | American author. |
C. S. | Lewis | British writer and lay theologian. |
Henry W. | Longfellow | American poet and educator. |
Elizabeth | MacKintosh | Real name of Josephine Tey. |
Alistair | MacLean | Scottish novelist. |
Carolyn | Makinson | One of Mary Anne's friends. |
Thomas | Mann | German novelist, short story writer. |
Thomas | Mann | German novelist, short story writer, social critic. |
Ngaio | Marsh | New Zealand writer. |
Ahmad Shah | Massound | Afghan politician and military commander. |
William S. | Maugham | English playwright, novelist, and short story writer. |
Judy | Mayotte | Mary Anne's friend. |
James | McBride | American writer and musician. |
Alexander | McCall Smith | British writer. |
Edwin | McClellan | British teacher. |
Susan | McClelland | An author. |
Val | McDermid | Scottish crime writer. |
Ian | McEwan | English novelist and screenwriter. |
Nic | McGegan | British harpsichordist, flautist, and conductor. |
Richard | Meier | American abstract artist and architect. |
Herman | Melville | American novelist, short story writer and poet. |
James A. | Michener | American author. |
Rohinton | Mistry | Canadian-Indian writer. |
Joni | Mitchell | Canadian singer-songwriter. |
J. R. | Moehringer | American novelist. |
Marjorie | Morgenstern | A New York Jewish girl in the 1930s. |
Toni | Morrison | American novelist, essayist, book editor. |
Wolfgang | Mozart | A composer. |
Daniyal | Mueenuddin | American-Pakistani author. |
Kristen | Mulvihill | David Rohde's wife. |
Alice | Munro | Canadian short story writer. |
Iris | Murdoch | British novelist and philosopher. |
Mrs. | Murphy | Mary Anne's acquaintance. |
Akkineni | Nagarjuna | Indian film actor. |
Irene | Némirovsky | A novelist of Ukrainian Jewish. |
Edith | Nesbit | English author and poet. |
Richard | Nixon | 37th U.S. President. |
Dr. Eileen | O'Reilly | An oncologist. |
Barack | Obama | 44th U.S. President. |
John | O'Hara | American writer. |
Mary | Oliver | American poet. |
Mary | Oliver | American poet. |
Frances | Osborne | Idina Sackville's biographer. |
Elaine | Pagels | American religious historian. |
Sara | Paretsky | American author of detective fiction. |
Randy | Pausch | A computer scientist and professor. |
Susan | Pedersen | Canadian historian. |
Harold | Pinter | British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. |
Reynolds | Price | American poet, novelist, dramatist. |
Thomas | Pynchon | American novelist. |
Mang | Quan | Mary Anne's acquaintance. |
Arthur | Ransome | English author and journalist. |
Paul | Revere | American silversmith. |
David K. | Reynolds | An author. |
Lucie | Rie | Austrian-born British studio potter. |
Marilynne | Robinson | American novelist and essayist. |
David S. | Rohde | American author and investigative journalist. |
John | Ruskin | English art critic. |
Rosalind | Russell | An actress. Freddie Brisson's wife. |
Timothy J. | Russert | American television journalist. |
Idina | Sackville | English aristocrat. |
Carl | Sandburg | American poet. |
Will | Schwalbe | An author, entrepreneur, and journalist. |
Paul | Scofield | English actor of stage and screen. |
Martin | Scorsese | Italian-American film director. |
Pippa | Scott | Mary Anne's lifelong friend. |
David | Sedaris | American humorist, comedian, author. |
Irene | Selznick | American socialite and theatrical producer. |
Maurice | Sendak | American illustrator and writer of children's books. |
Peter | Shaffer | English playwright and screnwriter. |
George Bernard | Shaw | Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. |
Bernie | Siegal | American writer and retired pediatric surgeon. |
Carly | Simon | American singer-songwriter. |
Aleksandr | Solzhenitsyn | Russian novelist, |
Natsume | Sōseki | Japanese novelist. |
Gareth | Sparham | A scholar and translator in the field of Tibetan Buddhism. |
Rupert | Spira | An international teacher. |
Julian | Stair | English potter, academic and writer. |
Wallace | Stegner | American novelist, short story writer. |
Edward | Steichen | American photographer. |
Wallace | Stevens | American modernist poet. |
Elizabeth | Strout | American novelist. |
Janet | Suzman | British-South African actress. |
Patrick | Swayze | American actor, dancer, singer, and songwriter. |
Charles | Taylor | Former President of Liberia. |
James | Taylor | American singer-songwriter. |
Jeremy | Taylor | A cleric in the Church of England. |
Shirley | Temple | American actress, singer, dancer. |
Josephine | Tey | Scottish author. |
Chong | Thao | One of the children in the camp. |
Michael | Thomas | A young writer originally from Boston. |
Henry David | Thoreau | American essayist, poet, and philosopher. |
Mary Wilder | Tileston | An author. |
Colm | Tóibín | Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist. |
J. R. R. | Tolkien | English writer, poet, philologist, and academic. |
William | Trevor | Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer. |
Liv | Ullmann | One of Mary Anne's friends. |
John | Updike | American novelist. |
Leon | Uris | American author of historical fiction. |
Marina | Vaizey | Mary Anne's closest friend. |
James | Van Der Zee | American photographer. |
Barbara | Walters | American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. |
Sheila | Weller | A journalist. |
Elie | Wiesel | American-Romanian writer. |
Mrs. | Williams | A homeroom teacher. |
Tennessee | Williams | American playwright. |
P. G. | Wodehouse | English author. |
Geoffrey | Wolff | American novelist, essayist, biographer. |
Herman | Wouk | American author. |
Jeffrey | Zaslow | American author and journalist. |
Adrian | | Lucy's brother. |
Andy | | One of Will's friends. |
Andy | | Mary Anne's friend. |
Brother Brian | | One who runs De La Salle Academy in Manhattan. |
Curt | | Mary Anne's favorite nurse. |
Cy | | One of Will's mother's grandchildren. |
David 1 | | Will's partner. |
David 2 | | Larry Kramer's partner. |
Denise | | Némirovsky's daughter. |
Dice | | One of Mary Anne's friends. |
Doug | | Will Schwalbe's brother. |
Douglas | | Mary Anne's husband. |
Fabienne | | Will's brother's first wife. |
Fred | | A Presbyterian minister. |
Gabriel | | A nurse. |
Jean | | Halberstam's wife. |
Lucy | | Will's niece. |
Malcolm X | | American Muslim minister. |
Mary Anne | | Will Schwalbe's mother. |
Milo | | One of Will's mother's grandchildren. |
Momoh | | One of Mary Anne's friends. |
Nancy | | Will's sister-in-law. |
Nico | | Will's mother's oldest grandchild. |
Nina | | Will Schwalbe's sister. |
Rodger | | Will's family friend. |
Sally | | Nina's partner. |
Scottie | | F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's daughter. |
Sister Mater | | A nun from the Philippines working in a refugee camp in Thailand. |
Skip | | Mary Anne's younger brother. |
Surrey | | A dog. |
Susan | | Mary Anne's acquaintance. |
Tom | | One of Will's friends. |
Winnie | | One of Mary Anne's friends. |
Wylie | | John O'Hara's daughter. |