| 1 | Joseph | Castleham | Joan's rich husband. A famous writer. Aka: Joe. |
| | Joan Ames | Castleham | Protagonist and Narrator. |
| | Dylan | Thomas | A writer. |
| | Dr. Krentz | | The Castleham's doctor. |
| | Lorna | Castleham | Joe's mother. |
| | Mims | | Joe's grandmother. |
| | Martin | Castleham | Joe's father. |
| | Aunt | Lois | Joe's aunt. Aka: Lois Ackerman. |
| | Aunt | Viv | Joe's aunt. |
| | Clark | Gable | The man that Aunt Lois likes. |
| | Bonnie | Limp | Joe's first girlfriend. |
| | Mrs. | Schuyler | A general store owner. |
| | Lev | Bresner | A novelist and holocaust survivor. Joe's friend. |
| | Tosha | Bresner | Lev's wife. |
| | David | Castleham | Joe and Joan's son. |
| | Manny | Gumpert | Joan's acquaintance. |
| | Carol | Welchak | Joe's first wife. |
| | Simone | Well | A French writer. |
| | Sylvie | Blacker | Joe's editor. |
| | Irwin | Clay | Joe's agent. |
| | Hal | | Joe's long-time editor. Deceased. |
| | Harry | Jacklin | Joe's friend. |
| | Don | Lofting | A playwright. |
| | Dr. | Ruffner | Joe's doctor. |
| | Dr. | Vikram | Joe's cardiologist. |
| | Louise | | Joe's friend. |
| | Susannah | Castleham | David's sister. |
| | Alice | Castleham | David's sister. |
| | Teuvo | Halonen | The acting president of the Finish Academy of Letters. |
| | Pippa | Halonen | Teuvo's wife. |
| | Louis | Strickler | The characters in Joe's book. |
| | Margaret | Strickler | The characters in Joe's book. |
| 2 | Chancey | Foster | Joan's
acquaintance. |
| | Judge | Kaufman | The justice. |
| | Dymphna | Worrell | The element of creative writing teacher. |
| | Fanny | Castleham | Joe's daughter. |
| | Michael | Furey | The character in James Joyce's novel. |
| | James | Joyce | A novelist. |
| | Abigail | Brenner | Joan's classmate. |
| | Laura | Sonnengard | Joan's friend. |
| | Susan | Whittle | The redheaded girl on Joan's class. |
| | Elaine | Mozell | A novelist. Joan's
acquaintance. |
| | Flannery | O'Connor | The American novelist. |
| | Rochelle | Darnton | A short story writer. One of Joe's students. |
| | Professor | Tanaka | Joe's colleague. |
| 3 | Kyosti | Hynninen | A flight passenger. |
| | Mark | | Sussanah's boyfriend. |
| | Mr. | Wellman | Joan's employer. |
| | Chester | Mackey | One of the book's characters. |
| | Maria | Jacklin | Harry's wife. |
| | Digby | | A black homosexual at the party. |
| | Lyle | Samuelson | A professor at City College. Joe's friend. |
| | Ike | | Lyle and Joe's friend. |
| | Bob | Lovejoy | A baby-faced editor. |
| | Mary | McCarthy | One of the most important women writers. |
| | Milton | Fish | A salesman. |
| | Thorton | Wilder | The famous writer that Joan's parents met. |
| 4 | Michael | Denbold | A literature instructor. A character in The Walnut story. |
| | Susan | Lwoe | Denbold's student. |
| | Deirdre | Denbold | Michael's wife. |
| | Hal | Wellman | Joe's editor. Joan's boss. |
| | Edith | Tansley | A powerful woman editor. |
| | Nathaniel | Bone | The literary critic. |
| | Mary | Croy | Joan's friend. An editorial assistant. |
| | Melinda | | Joan and Joe's live-in babysitter. |
| | Brenda | | The prostitute. |
| | Dr. | Tom | Brenda's doctor. |
| | Lee | | A journalist. |
| | Lilian | Hellman | A female writer. |
| | Carson | McCullers | A female writer. |
| | Raymond | | Lee's husband. |
| | Descartes | | Nathaniel's colleague. |
| 5 | Valerian | Qaanaaq | A novelist who was a member of the Inuit Tribe of Labrador. |
| | Audrey | Hepburn | A British actress. |
| | Don | | The man at the party. |
| | Roz | | Don's partner. |
| | Belstein | | One of Tosha's friends. A novelist. |
| | Merry | Cheslin | The writer that Joe met at the writing conference called Butternut Peak. |
| | Virginia | Woolf | An English writer. |
| | Liana | Thorne | Randall's wife. Joan's friend. |
| | Randall | Thorne | The former famous writer. |
| | Dusty | Berkowitz | A novelist's wife. Joan's friend |
| | Janice | Leidner | A novelist's wife. Joan's friend |
| | Aleksandr | Solzhenitsyn Trebek | The host at Butternut Peak. |
| | Lucy | Bloodworth | A short story writer. |
| | Jeannie | | The shy female poet. |
| | Martin | Benneker | A rich novelist. Joe's friend. |
| | Ken | Wooten | A novelist whose novels were adapted into film. |
| | Timo | Kristian | The Finland President. |
| | Karita | Kristian | Timo's wife. |
| 7 | Kirsti | Salonen | Joan's acquaintance. |
| | Erik | Salonen | A chemical engineer. Kirsti's wife. |
