| Name | Page First Mentioned | Brief description, role |
|---|---|---|
| Lea Holmes | 5 | The main character of the book's bridging segments. A depressed, confused young woman who encounters the People after leaving her home in Clivedale. About 22 years old. |
| elderly talkative woman on the bus | 5 | Had four children by the age of 23. Has many grandchildren. |
| Jennie | 5 | One of the children of the talkative woman on the bus. |
| Arthur | 6 | Grandchild of the talkative woman on the bus. |
| Jane | 6 | Grandchild of the talkative woman on the bus. |
| Karen | 8 | One of the People. One of the main characters, she narrates the story "Ararat," pg. 19 to 43. Has 'the Gift,' and is known as a Sorter (pg. 24), as was her Grandmother. Appears at the end of "Gilead," beginning on page 76. Also a significant figure in the back story of Melodye in "Pottage" (first mentioned on pg. 95), as she was Melodye's college roommate. Arrives at the end of "Pottage," beginning on page 109. |
| Jemmy | 16 | One of the People. One of main characters, a prominent figure in "Ararat" and the bridge story. Karen's older brother. He is 24 years old at the time of "Ararat" (pg. 22). Also appears in "Pottage," beginning on page 109. Appears at end of "Wilderness" on pg. 160. Mentioned in "Captivity" on page 206 and 213-214. Also in "Jordan," beginning on page 229: he is an authority figure to Bram. |
| Melodye Amerson | 17 | A human teacher who was Karen's college roommate, which is where she first learned of the People. Central figure and narrator of "Pottage" (pg. 82-116), in which she discovers another isolated group of the People. Last name first mentioned pg. 81. [Melodye was played by Kim Darby in the movie "The People."] |
| Clement Francher | 18 | One of the People, who made "a soft musical trill of delight" curl around the room at the Gathering. Featured in "Captivity," beginning on page 168, where he is a neighborhood boy that Miss Carolle knows. When first described, he is shoplifting from the store next to his house. He is one of the People, able to levitate a harmonica and play it without touching it. He loves music. Described by Anna Semper as an impossible child to teach, impossible to reach. She calls him a "won't-do genius." His first name (Clement) is first mentioned on page 172. As a child he lived with his mother, who was a carnival mind-reder. After she died, he was raised in a foster home. |
| Old Ones | 18 | Various unnamed elders of the Group of the People. Mentioned frequently, then first featured in a scene in person on page 40. |
| Davy | 18 | Mentioned orignally as "Davey." Invented a recording device, analagous to a tape recorder, that can record the projected thoughts of the People. Apparently the same as "Davy", a young man who had been a child, mentioned on page 46, and later in "Jordan," beginning on page 235, when his device is described in more detail and he is described clearly as the inventor. |
| Karen's Father | 19 | One of the People, and one of the leaders of the small Group of People on Baldy Mountain, in Cougar Canyon. |
| Karen's Mother | 20 | One of the People. |
| Jethro | 20 | Karen's youngest brother, one of the People. |
| Kiah | 21 | Karen's little brother. |
| Elizabeth | 21 | Karen's little sister. Called "Lizbeth." |
| Valancey Carmody | 21 | Teacher sent by the state to teach at the small school of the People in Cougar Canyon. Also one of the People, but was orphaned when the ship came to Earth and didn't know of her heritage until after she came to the People's village. She was raised in Vista Mar, California, where she was found. She marry's Jemmy, Karen's brother. Appears at the end of "Gilead," beginning on page 76. Also appears in "Pottage," beginning on page 109. Appears at end of "Wilderness" on pg. 160. Also in "Jordan." |
| Debra Armister | 25 | Young girl, student at the school in Cougar Canyon. One of the People. |
| Rachel Armister | 25 | Young girl, student at the school in Cougar Canyon. One of the People. |
| Jeddy Armister | 25 | Brother of Debra and Rachel. |
| Derek Kroginold | 26 | Rebellious young boy in the school in Cougar Canyon. One of the People. |
| Jake Kroginold | 26 | Rebellious young boy in the school in Cougar Canyon. One of the People. Mentioned again in "Jordan" beginning on page 250. |
| Susie Clarinade | 27 | Very shy child child. A twin. Rarely speaks. |
| Jerry Clarinade | 27 | Very shy child child. A twin. Jerry does almost all of the talking for both himself and his twin sister Susie. |
| Darcy Clarinade | 40 | Mother of the Clarinade twins. |
| Peter Merrill | 44 | Central figure and narrator of "Gilead" (pg. 50-79). Son of one of the People who was separated from the others, and who married a human, Peter is only half-People, but is talented at levitation. [Last name first mentioned on page 51.] Appears at end of "Wilderness" on pg. 161. Mentioned in "Jordan" on page 234 and elsewhere. |
| Bethie Merrill | 44 | Younger sister of Peter, and the other main character in "Gilead." Only half of the People, she is a Sensitive, and has the ability to feel the physical pain of others, but lacked the ability to control that pain while growing up. Also appears in "Pottage," beginning on page 109. Appears at end of "Wilderness" on pg. 161. Mentioned in "Captivity" on page 214. Mentioned in "Jordan" on page 234 and elsewhere. |
| Jacobses | 50 | Family in Socorro, Arizona who Peter and Bethie knew when growing up. They had a bull. |
| unnamed girl | 50 | Fellow six-year-old classmate who Peter liked and ate lunch with when he was younger. |
| Stanley | 51 | An adult who worked at the school Peter attended when he was six years old. |
| unnamed teacher | 51 | At Peter's school when he was six years old. |
| Bruce Merrill | 51 | Peter refers to him simply as "Dad." Not of the People, he was a human who married a woman of the People. He discouraged any of his family from speaking about the People or using their extra abilities. |
| Eve Merrill | 52 | Peter refers to her as "Mother." She was of the People, but her husband was not. She had been separated from the others and raised apart from others of the People. Became a midwife after her husband died. |
| Glib | 54 | The Merrills' terrier, which they had when Bethie was born. |
| Mr. Tyree | 54 | Merrills' next-door neighbor, who lost his big toe in a wood-chopping accident. |
| Doctor Dueff | 54 | Doctor in the small town Peter and Bethie grew up in. |
| Delfino | 55 | A neighbor who gave the Merrills some wood. |
| Bub Jacobs | 57 | One of the Jacobs family, a neighbor of the Merrills, who cut across Peter's yard one day and Peter caught him and levitated him. |
| Reena | 62 | A woman who lived "just across the road" from the Merrills. Went into labor (Eve Merrill delivered the baby). |
| Dalt | 63 | Neighbor from across the street, Reena's husband. Father of six children. |
| Mrs. Allberg | 64 | A woman who died in childbirth, causing considerable pain for Bethie, who could sense pain. |
| Gramma Reuther | 65 | A neighbor always went to homes where people were dying to comfort them with Bible passages. |
| gas station attendant | 71 | Who gives them directions to the settlement of the People in Cougar Canyon. |
| placement director | 82 | The state school administrator who Melodye talks to in order to get a position late in the year. |
| Saul Diemus | 83 | One of the leaders of the People of Bendo. First mentioned as the president of the small school board there. Picks Melodye up when she arrives at the bus stop to Bendo (pg. 85). |
| bus driver | 85 | Driver who drops Melodye off in Bendo, and tells her a bit about the place. |
| Sarah Diemus | 87 | Saul's daughter. A girl in about fourth grade. |
| Matt Diemus | 87 | Saul's son. A boy in about seventh grade. Mentioned again in "Jordan" beginning on page 249. |
| Dorcas Diemus | 88 | Saul's other daughter, one of the People, in Bendo. First mentioned when Melodye overhears Sarah asking about her and Matt saying she's being punished for jumping, by being placed in the "hidey hole." |
| Martha | 90 | One of the students at the school in Bendo. Of the People, as all the students are. Is bold enough to proclaim that she likes school and thinks it is fun. |
| Esther Jonso | 91 | Another student at the school in Bendo. Ten years old and prone to crying and panicking about their parents' proscription about talking about the Home or the Gifts of the People. She was somewhat traumatized by a memory of a mob of Earth humans attacking and killing some of the People. Last name first mentioned on pg. 104. |
| Timmy | 92 | Another student at the school in Bendo. [In an apparent typographical error, Timmy is referred to as "Jimmy" on page 104. The class size is mentioned as ten kids on pg. 83. Ten kids have already been mentioned: Sarah, Matt, Dorcas, Martha, Esther, Timmy, Miriam, Joel, Talitha and Abie.] |
| Miriam | 12 | One of the People. One of the leaders. First mentioned in the bridge stories, then in "Pottage" on pg. 92, where she is described as "the sophomore who was our entire high school" (in the tiny Bendo Group). |
| Joel | 94 | Another student at the school in Bendo. |
| Talitha | 94 | Another student at the school in Bendo: "'I remember,' volunteered Talitha, who never volunteered anything." |
| Abie Peters | 94 | Another student at the school in Bendo: "the second-grade next-to-youngest who always whispered." Has a bad accident when, startled, she drops out of levitating and lands on her head. Last name mentioned on pg. 101. |
| Mr. Jonso | 104 | Esther's father, one of the adults of the Bendo People. |
| Dr. Curtis | 105 | Nearest doctor to Bendo, who lived in Tortura Pass, sixty miles away by road. He ends up learning about the People when they help him telekinetically operate on Abie. He goes with Melodye to live with the larger People settlement in Cougar Canyon. Last name is first mentioned on page 107. Dr. Curtis is also an important character in "Captivity," where he appears on pages 193 to 196 and 204 to 214. In "Captivity" his car breaks down in Willow Creek en route to a hunting trip and he helps Francher and Miss Carrolle find the People. [Dr. Curtis was played by William Shatner (of Star Trek fame) in the movie "The People."] |
| Mr. Peters | 108 | Abie's father. |
| Mrs. Peters | 108 | Abie's mother. |
| Valancey's baby | 119 | Valancey gives birth to a daughter. Her husband Jemmy is the father, making Karen an aunt. |
| Santhy | 122 | A five-year-old girl of the People in Cougar Canyon. She is just learning to lift. |
| Perdita "Dita" Verist | 121 | Apparently born of regular Earth heritage, but inexplicably has powers and abilities like those of the People. The central figure and narrator of "Wilderness," pages 122-163. Thinks she might be crazy because of the extraterrestrial abilities and racial memories which she doesn't understand. Has some unusual abilities, even for the People, such as the ability to make metal objects glow. Her full name is first mentioned on page 134. Mentioned in "Jordan" on page 234 and elsewhere. |
| Bruce | 122 | A student in Dita's class, who she mentions is worried about his father after he overheard his parents fighting and then his father left and didn't come home all night. Dita knows this because she inadvertantly read his mind. This is not the same as "Bruce Merrill" from "Gilead." |
| Mrs. Kanz | 122 | A jaded teacher at the school Dita teaches at in the small town of Kruger. |
| Stell | 123 | Mother of Bruce, a student in Dita's class. |
| Mark | 123 | Father of Bruce, a student in Dita's class. |
| Marie | 123 | A person who Mrs. Kanz and Dita know from the school, who Mrs. Kanz conjectures told Dita about the fight that Stell and Mark had. |
| Lucine | 123 | An extremely troubled twelve-year-old first grader in Dita's class. She seems autistic or something, often withdrawn and sometimes suddenly bursting into rages. The other kids think she is crazy. |
| Petie | 124 | A student in Dita's class in Kruper. Has a "stubborn block against number words." Not the same as Peter from "Gilead." |
| Marie | 128 | The woman who runs the small boarding house (and cooks meals) where Dita is staying. A nosy and negative woman who is a heavy drinker and hates life. |
| Old Charlie | 129 | An older man who lives at the boarding house where Dita is staying. |
| Severeid Swanson | 129 | A Mexican who lives at the boarding house where Dita is staying. A drink. Speaks very little English. |
| Lowmanigh | 129 | One of the People. A charming man. Was born in the Cougar Canyon People settlement, but was orphaned as a three-year-old when his parents were in an automobile wreck and authorities couldn't trace his home. He was raised by regular humans and is trying to find the home of his People, which he vaguely remembers but doesn't know the location of. Also appears on page 246 and 250 of "Captivity." |
| Esperanza | 131 | One of Dita's students. Niece of Severeid. Mexican. Started to beat up Joseph when he called her a Mexican in a mocking way. |
| Joseph | 131 | One of Dita's students, who called Esperanza a Mexican and then suffered when she tried to beat him up. |
| Lowmanigh's Father | 139 | Lowmanigh's parents were of the Cougar Canyon People Group, but were killed an automobile accident when he was three. |
| Lowmanigh's Mother | 139 | Lowmanigh's parents were of the Cougar Canyon People Group, but were killed an automobile accident when he was three. |
| Chinee Joe | 146 | A Chinaman who Severeid says gave him his wine bottle, and who Dita tries to track down in order to find out where Severeid was when that happened, because Severeid indicated there were People there. |
| Grandpa Josh | 146 | Dita's grandfather |
| Granmma Malvina | 146 | Dita's grandmother |
| Great-granpa Benedaly | 146 | Dita's great grandfather |
| Johnny | 149 | The person who normally takes care of the water pipe from the spring to the town, but who was feeling ill so Lowmanigh did it for him. |
| Marson's daughter | 155 | Some local gossip: "Marson's daughter ran off last night with the hoistman at the Golden Turkey. He's fifty if he's a day and she's just turned sixteen." |
| hoistman at the Golden Turkey | 155 | Some local gossip: "Marson's daughter ran off last night with the hoistman at the Golden Turkey. He's fifty if he's a day and she's just turned sixteen." |
| Claude | 155 | Owns the hounds the town uses in a search-and-rescue. |
| town sheriff | 155 | Unnamed town sheriff. Says "Gaw-dang" a lot. In the course of his duties, he tries to drive the young girl Lucine to her death off a cliff in a cave after she gravely injures Petie. |
| deputy | 155 | Unnamed deputy, assistant to the town sheriff. Just as thoughtless as the sheriff, he helps when the sheriff tries to kill Lucine. |
| Miss Carolle | 166 | The central character and narrator of "Captivity," pg. 167-214. A human, not of the People. She was injured one year before "Captivity" begins in a car accident, and was crippled. She wears braces on her legs and uses crutches for mobility. Before her injury she was a teacher. She becomes the subsitute teacher for Francher's class. Mentioned in "Jordan" on page 234 and elsewhere. |
| Anna Semper | 170 | Another boarder at the Somansons' house, where Miss Carolle is living. She is Francher's teacher in school. |
| Francher's mother | 173 | Before she died, she worked as a mind-reader in carnivals. Of course, as one of the People, she could really read minds. But doing so, seeing all the darkness and hate, etc. in so many minds, made her often distressed and, left her feeling dirty. |
| Mrs. Somanson | 175 | Owns the boarding house where Miss Carolle and Anna Semper lived. |
| Rigo | 177 | A young teenage boy in Francher's class who called Francher crazy after Francher said he wanted to be an "outlaw" when he grows up. Francher almost struck him with a telekinetically-propelled globe onto him. Later assists in taking down the old decorations in the gym. Pg. 184: Mexican. At the dance he "was stunning in his Latin handsomeness, and he and Angie so drowned in each other's dark eyes that I could see why our Mexican youngsters usually marry so young." |
| Twyla | 179 | A girl with braided hair, in Francher's class. |
| Pea-Green | 179 | Pea-Green. Someone who had been at the school before and put up the newest still-there decorations in the gym. One of the students described him: "He was a screwball. He used up ever piece of crepe paper in town and used nails t put the stuff up--big nails. He's gone now. He got silicosis and went to Hot Springs." |
| Janniset | 180 | Another boy in Francher's class. On the decorating committee along with Twyla, Rigo, and Francher. |
| Angie | 184 | An eighth grade Mexican girl. Went to the dance with Rigo, who she was apparently in love with. Miss Carolle says of her: "she didn't look like any eighth grader--her strapless gown, her dangly earrings, her laughing flirtatious eyes--but taken out of the context and custom and tradition shwas breath-takingly lovely. Of course it was on her 'unsuitable for her age' dress and jewelry and make-up that the long line of mothers and aunts and grandmothers fixed disapproving eyes, but I'd be willing to bet that there were plenty who wished their own children could look as lovely." |
| Marty | 185 | At the dance: "Janniset skidded off across the floor, balancing his paper cup precariously as he went to take another look at Marty, who at school was only a girl but here, all dressed up, was dawn of woman-wonder for him." |
| Mrs. McVey | 185 | The foster mother who Francher lives with. She doesn't do a very good job as a foster mother, mostly just takes the money. Twyla complains to Miss Carolle that Mrs. McVey hasn't even used the money she gets from the government to buy clothes for Francher. |
| Mrs. Frisney | 186 | Another teacher at the school where Miss Carolle teaches. At the dance, Miss Carolle "was drawn into a healf-audible, completely incomprehensible conversation with Mrs. Frisney." Also mentioned on page 206 and 208. |
| Grampa Griggs | 186 | Man in the town (associated with the school somehow?) who drew Mrs. Frisney away to dance, releasing Miss Carolle from her conversation with her. |
| Mrs. Holmes | 190 | A woman in town with six boys, who was at the Sew-Sew Club where women were gossiping about Twyla and Francher. Francher emptied stagnant, mosquito-infested pond at the Holmses' house. |
| Turbows | 190 | A family in town. Mrs. Turbow was one of the five people at the Sew-Sew Club who gossiped about Twyla and Francher. The Turbows' old shed exploded without a sound, apparently Francher's doing. The Thurmans had been meaning to get rid of it. |
| Mrs. Thurman | 190 | A family in town. Mrs. Thurman was one of the five people at the Sew-Sew Club who gossipped about Twyla and Francher. "Then the last sound timber on the old railroad bridge below the Thurmans' house shuddered and dissolved loudly into sawdust..." The bridge was a dangerous hazard for kids, because it was in such bad condition. |
| Ol' Hank | 191 | A man who lives at the boarding house where Miss Carolle lives. |
| Mr. Scudder | 191 | A family in town that owns pigs. Scudder (or perhaps his wife) was one of the five people at the Sew-Sew Club who gossipped about Twyla and Francher. Francher accidently killed two of their kids with a falling rock, but he replaced them. Francher says that "Old man Scudder's a pretty right guy" (page 192). |
| Lelands | 191 | A farming family in the town. Mrs. Leland was one of the five people at the Sew-Sew Club who gossipped about Twyla and Francher. Francher destroyed a section of their stone fence. |
| Blue Nor | 191 | A woman with "porchy eyebrows" who lives a the boarding house where Miss Carolle lives. |
| Bill Thurman | 193 | Mechanic. Husband of Mrs. Thurman, who had gossiped about Francher. |
| Grace | 219 | A human woman in a town near Cougar Canyon who got an appendectomy. Lea was able to get temporary work filling in for her. |
| Deon | 48 | Sees Lea fall in the creek and talks to briefly on page 48. Gives Lea a rid into town, pg. 217-218. Gives her a ride back to Cougar Canyon on pages 221-226. Name is first mentioned on page 222. |
| Bram | 226 | Narrator and central character of "Jordan," on pages 226 to 255. Restless young man who thinks the People should use their abilities to actively improve the Earth, or should leave Earth altogether. |
| Obla | 227 | Good natured woman who has fine control over her telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Her body was badly damaged in the explosion when their ship came to Earth. She is "deaf, blind, voiceless, armless, legless..." |
| Salla | 231 | A young woman from the New Home who comes to Cougar Canyon in a spaceship (along with her parents), and sneaks outside of it early, thus meeting Bram. |
| Laam | 234 | The "Motiver" who was able to mentally propel the ship from the New Home to Earth. |
| The Oldest | 237 | A blind leader among the People. Oldest among the Group at Cougar Canyon. He is the one who greets the ship from the New Home. |
| Anna | 237 | One of the People who was in a different group than that which came to Earth. The Cougar Canyon People ask the newly arrived People from the New Home about her. NOT the same as Anna Semper, a human teacher. |
| Mark | 237 | One of the People who the Cougar Canyon group asks the newcomers from New Home about. |
| Santhy | 237 | One of the People who the Cougar Canyon group asks the newcomers from New Home about. |
| Bediah | 237 | One of the People who the Cougar Canyon group asks the newcomers from New Home about. |
| Shua | 237 | Salla's father. Came with his wife and daughter and Laam from the New Home to Earth to bring the stranded People back. |
| Salla's Mother | 237 | Came with his wife and daughter from the New Home to Earth to bring the stranded People back. |
| Page First Set There | Setting |
|---|---|
| 5 | bus driving through Arizona |
| 7 | A small town in Arizona where Lea gets off the bus, intent on killing herself by jumping off a bridge. She instead meets up with Karen, of the People. |
| 14 | Cougar Canyon. Village of the People, where Karen takes Lea. Karen's home, plus the schoolhouse, creek nearby. |
| 50 | Socorro. The small town on the Rio Gordo where Peter and Bethie grew up ("Gilead") |
| 85 | Bendo. The tiny settlement of a few families of the People. Melodye is assigned to teach the ten children in the school there, and finds a dysfunctional group of unhappy People, the opposite of the group that Valancey encountered in the Cougar Canyon settlement. |
| 122 | Kruper. A small mining human town where Dita has come to teach at. About 25 miles from a town of decent size. The town's name is first mentioned on page. 126. Specific settings include the school, the boarding house, the hills above the town, the large town 25 miles away, and the old ghost town of Machron (pg. 137, identified with a different spelling as "Macron" pg. 150). |
| 167 | Willow Creek. Town where Miss Carolle was a boarder ("Captivity") at the Somansons' house, across the street from Groman's Grocery. Francher lived there, too. |
Lists copyright (©) by Adherents.com. Based on the fiction of Zenna Henderson.
Web page created 20 June 2000. Last modified 20 June 2000.