Crown on the Potomac

Characters

Who is who, book by book

The lists grow with the published chapters, so nobody appears here before they appear in the story. Each person is described as the reader first meets them. Most are historical people; those the novels invent are marked.

Book One · 1775 to 1780

The Olive Branch

Through the Epilogue

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices.

Eli Wheeler Chapter One, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Twenty-four, the Monmouth interlude and Chapter Forty-two
Abigail Adams Chapter Two, Chapter Twelve and Chapter Twenty-nine
John Dickinson Chapter Three, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Twenty and Chapter Forty
Richard Penn Chapter Four, Chapter Seven and Chapter Thirty-six
Lord Dartmouth Chapter Five, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Twenty-six and Chapter Thirty-five
King George III Chapter Six, Chapter Fourteen and Chapter Thirty-four
Benedict Arnold Chapter Eight, Chapter Twenty-one and Chapter Thirty-two
John Adams Chapter Nine, Chapter Sixteen and Chapter Twenty-five
George Washington Chapter Ten, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Thirty-one and Chapter Forty-one
Joseph Brant Chapter Eleven, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Thirty and Chapter Thirty-seven
Lord North Chapter Twenty-two and Chapter Thirty-three
Benjamin Franklin Chapter Twenty-three, Chapter Twenty-eight and Chapter Thirty-eight
Sir Henry Clinton Chapter Twenty-seven, Chapter Thirty-nine and the Epilogue

Lexington, April 1775

Eli Wheeler Invented: A Lexington farm boy of fourteen, too young for the company, who watches the regulars come onto the Common on the morning of 19 April 1775. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Fifteen, Twenty-four and Forty-two, and of the Monmouth interlude.
Nathan Wheeler called Nathan Invented: Eli's elder brother, seventeen and a year on the company's list, who stands in the line on the Common with their father. First in Chapter One.
Paul Revere called Revere: The messenger who comes through from Charlestown in the night with word that the regulars are out. First in Chapter One.
Jonas Clarke called Mr Clarke: Lexington's minister, with Hancock and Samuel Adams staying in his house that night, who goes on praying for the King. First in Chapter One.
John Parker called Captain Parker: Captain of the Lexington company, a coughing veteran of the French war, who forms his men on the Common to face the regulars. First in Chapter One.
William Munroe called Sergeant Munroe: Sergeant of the company, talking with Eli's father on the Common while the men wait. First in Chapter One.
Old Mr Reed Invented: An old man in Buckman's tavern, who says that if everyone remembers they are all the King's, nobody has cause to do anything. First in Chapter One.
Prince Estabrook: An enslaved man of the Estabrook farm, who stands with the Lexington company. First in Chapter One.
Thaddeus Bowman: The rider who brings word to Buckman's, a little after four in the morning, that the regulars are close. First in Chapter One.
William Diamond: The company's drummer, sixteen, who beats to arms when the regulars are reported near. First in Chapter One.
Jonas Parker: The captain's cousin, who has said all winter that he will never run from a regular. First in Chapter One.
Jonathan Harrington: A man of the company, whose house stands across the road from the Common. First in Chapter One.
The dead of the Common: The eight killed on the Common that morning: Jonas Parker, Robert Munroe, Samuel Hadley, John Brown, Caleb Harrington, Isaac Muzzey, Jonathan Harrington, and Asahel Porter of Woburn. Jedediah Munroe, hurt there, is killed in the afternoon. First in Chapter One.

Braintree

Abigail Adams: John Adams's wife, keeping the house and farm at Braintree with their four children while he is at the Congress. First in Chapter Two. Voice of Chapters Two, Twelve and Twenty-nine.
John Quincy Adams called Johnny: Her elder son, seven, whose finger Dr Warren once saved. First in Chapter Two.
Abigail Adams the younger called Nabby: Her daughter, nine, who has lately decided that she is a woman and frightened of nothing. First in Chapter Two.
Charles Adams called Charley: Her son, five, who wants to know whether the guns will come to Braintree. First in Chapter Two.
Thomas Boylston Adams called Tommy: Her youngest, two, who likes the noise of the guns. First in Chapter Two.
Richard Cranch: Abigail's brother-in-law, husband of her sister Mary. First in Chapter Two.
Joseph Warren called Dr Warren: A Boston physician and friend of the family, lately made a general of the Massachusetts forces. First in Chapter Two.
Mercy Otis Warren called Mrs Warren: Abigail's friend at Plymouth, James Warren's wife, with a pen nearly as sharp as John Adams's. First in Chapter Twelve.
Mary Cranch called Mary: Abigail's elder sister, Richard Cranch's wife, who takes her family into Boston with Abigail's to be inoculated. First in Chapter Twelve.
Elizabeth Smith called Betsy: Abigail's younger sister, who goes into Boston with them in July 1776. First in Chapter Twelve.
Cotton Tufts: Abigail's young cousin, one of the seventeen who go into Boston to be inoculated. First in Chapter Twelve.
John Thaxter called Mr Thaxter: Another young cousin, who is reading law with John Adams. First in Chapter Twelve.

Boston, July 1776

Thomas Bulfinch called Dr Bulfinch: The Boston physician who inoculates the whole party against the smallpox in July 1776. First in Chapter Twelve.
Thomas Crafts called Colonel Crafts: The officer who reads the Congress's declaration to the town from the balcony of the State House. First in Chapter Twelve.

The Congress at Philadelphia

John Hancock called Mr Hancock: Boston merchant and leader, staying with Samuel Adams at the Lexington parsonage when the regulars come out, and afterwards presiding over the Congress. First in Chapter One.
Samuel Adams called Mr Adams: Boston leader and John Adams's cousin, the other man the regulars are said to be after in April 1775. First in Chapter One.
John Adams: Abigail's husband, a Massachusetts delegate at the Congress since April, who wants independence and has no patience with Dickinson's petition. First in Chapter Two. Voice of Chapters Nine, Sixteen and Twenty-five.
John Dickinson called Mr Dickinson: Pennsylvania delegate and author of the Olive Branch Petition, the Congress's last appeal to the King. First in Chapter Two. Voice of Chapters Three, Thirteen, Twenty and Forty.
Mary Norris Dickinson called Polly: Dickinson's Quaker wife at Fairhill, who has a Friend's way of letting a thing stand once it is said. First in Chapter Three.
Charles Thomson: Secretary of the Congress and keeper of its Journal. First in Chapter Three.
Christopher Gadsden called Mr Gadsden: South Carolina delegate and a firebrand, who fights the word humble in the petition. First in Chapter Three.
John Jay called Mr Jay: New York delegate, who wrote the petition's first draft in June. First in Chapter Three.
Benjamin Franklin called Mr Franklin: Pennsylvania delegate, lately home from London, whose signature is the smallest on the petition. First in Chapter Three. Voice of Chapters Twenty-three, Twenty-eight and Thirty-eight.
Benjamin Harrison called Mr Harrison: A stout Virginia delegate with a small, tidy signature. First in Chapter Three.
Thomas Jefferson called Mr Jefferson: A young Virginia delegate, whose draft declaration on taking up arms Dickinson rewrites. First in Chapter Three.
Mr Rutledge: South Carolina delegate, who signs the petition and talks with John Adams in the State House yard. First in Chapter Three.
Henry Middleton called Mr Middleton: South Carolina delegate, who signs the petition. First in Chapter Three.
James Warren: John Adams's friend and correspondent at Plymouth, to whom he writes of a piddling genius. First in Chapter Three.
Elbridge Gerry called Gerry: A new Massachusetts delegate, who rides to Philadelphia with John Adams in February 1776. First in Chapter Nine.
James Wilson called Mr Wilson: Pennsylvania delegate, who follows the news from London closely. First in Chapter Nine.
Robert Morris called Mr Morris: Pennsylvania delegate with an eye to trade, who has never in his life said a word against anything. First in Chapter Nine.
Samuel Chase called Mr Chase: Maryland delegate, the most violent man in the Congress. First in Chapter Nine.
Thomas Paine: The anonymous author of Common Sense, a staymaker from Thetford fourteen months in the country. First in Chapter Nine.
Caesar Rodney: A delegate for the Lower Counties and brigadier of their militia, with asthma and a cancer in his face under a green silk scarf, away in Sussex putting down a loyalist rising when the vote comes. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Thomas McKean called Mr McKean: A delegate for the Lower Counties and an independence man, who sends an express to bring Rodney to the vote. First in Chapter Thirteen.
George Read called Mr Read: A delegate for the Lower Counties, a quiet, careful lawyer of New Castle, against independence. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Edward Rutledge: A young South Carolina delegate, who leads a delegation that has come to Philadelphia to stay in the empire on better terms. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Henry Marchant called Mr Marchant: A Rhode Island delegate on Dickinson's committee to draw the heads of a peace, who looks out of the window. First in Chapter Forty.

The petition in London

Richard Penn called Mr Penn: A grandson of Pennsylvania's proprietor and once its Lieutenant-Governor, who carries the petition to London. First in Chapter Three. Voice of Chapters Four, Seven and Thirty-six.
Arthur Lee: A Virginian lawyer with five years in London, who helps Penn deliver the petition and is confident about everything. First in Chapter Three.
John Penn: Richard's brother, Governor of Pennsylvania, at home in Philadelphia. First in Chapter Four.
Mr Dunning Invented: A civil Whitehall clerk of about forty, who receives Penn day after day and tells him the Secretary is not available. First in Chapter Four.
Mary Masters Penn called Polly: Richard's wife, nineteen, who came to London in September 1775 on the first ship that would carry her, against everyone's advice. First in Chapter Seven.

The King and his ministers

King George III called the King: King of Great Britain and of the American colonies: hard-working, devout and certain that the colonies must be brought back to obedience. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters Six, Fourteen and Thirty-four.
Queen Charlotte called the Queen: The King's wife, thirty-one, who has borne him ten children and is carrying an eleventh. First in Chapter One.
Princess Mary: The King's eleventh child, three months old, asleep in the nursery at Kew. First in Chapter Fourteen.
George, Prince of Wales called the Prince of Wales: The King's eldest son, sixteen, charming and quick, who has never finished a page of anything that bored him. First in Chapter Thirty-four.
Prince Octavius called Octavius: The King's thirteenth child, five months old, asleep in the nursery at Kew. First in Chapter Thirty-four.
Lord Dartmouth called Dartmouth: William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the American colonies and Lord North's stepbrother, on whose desk the petition arrives. First in Chapter Four. Voice of Chapters Five, Eighteen, Twenty-six and Thirty-five.
Lord North: First Lord of the Treasury, kindly and tired, who holds a divided Cabinet together. First in Chapter Four. Voice of Chapters Twenty-two and Thirty-three.
Edward Thurlow called the Attorney-General: The Attorney-General, who with the Solicitor-General has drafted a proclamation of rebellion at Lord North's instruction. First in Chapter Four.
Alexander Wedderburn called the Solicitor-General: The Solicitor-General, Thurlow's partner in the drafting. First in Chapter Four.
John Pownall called Pownall: Dartmouth's under-secretary, who has been at the business of the colonies since before there was a department for it. First in Chapter Five.
Lord Suffolk: Henry Howard, Earl of Suffolk, Secretary of State and a hawk in the Cabinet. First in Chapter Five.
Lord Sandwich called Sandwich: First Lord of the Admiralty, the ministry's hard man in the Lords. First in Chapter Five.

Parliament

The Duke of Richmond: An opposition duke, who means to use the petition against the ministry in the Lords. First in Chapter Four.
Edmund Burke called Burke: Opposition orator in the Commons and agent in London for New York, who has been warning the ministry for a decade. First in Chapter Four.
Lord Bathurst called the Lord Chancellor: Henry Bathurst, Earl Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, who presides over the House of Lords. First in Chapter Six.
Sir Francis Molyneux: Black Rod these ten years, who summons the Commons to hear the King's Speech. First in Chapter Six.
Sir Fletcher Norton: Speaker of the House of Commons, once a lawyer. First in Chapter Six.
Lord George Germain called Germain: A hard-line member of the Commons, cashiered after Minden and holding no office, the loudest voice for a harder war. First in Chapter Six.
Jonathan Shipley called Dr Shipley: Bishop of St Asaph and Franklin's friend, on the bishops' bench in the Lords. First in Chapter Six.
Lord Shelburne: An opposition peer, Richmond's ally in the Lords. First in Chapter Six.
Lord Lyttelton called Lyttelton: A young and notorious peer, lately come over to the ministry. First in Chapter Seven.
The Duke of Grafton: Lord Privy Seal, sitting with the ministers, who has been urging North to treat with the Americans. First in Chapter Seven.
Lord Effingham: A peer who resigned his commission that year sooner than serve against the Americans. First in Chapter Seven.
The Duke of Manchester called Manchester: An opposition peer, who speaks in the Lords debate in November 1775. First in Chapter Seven.
Lord Cathcart: A peer who speaks in the same debate. First in Chapter Seven.
Isaac Barré called Colonel Barré: A big, scarred, half-blind Irishman who was with Wolfe at Quebec, and has opposed the war in the Commons from the beginning in a voice that carries to the lobby. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Charles James Fox called Mr Fox: Opposition orator in the Commons, twenty-eight and lately up all night at Brooks's, who moves for General Burgoyne's instructions to be laid before the House. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Lord Beauchamp: A member who moves that the Commons adjourn for six weeks over Christmas 1777, so that the ministers have time to prepare. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Thomas Townshend called Mr Townshend: An opposition member, who calls six weeks' adjournment at such a moment a very improper and hazardous measure. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Sir George Savile: An opposition member, who says that he would be ashamed to face his constituents. First in Chapter Twenty-two.

The march to Quebec

Benedict Arnold called Arnold: A New Haven merchant turned colonel, widowed in June 1775, who leads an expedition through the wilderness to take Quebec. First in Chapter Eight. Voice of Chapters Eight, Twenty-one and Thirty-two.
Daniel Morgan called Morgan: A Virginia waggoner who drove for Braddock, and the best soldier on the march. First in Chapter Eight.
Richard Montgomery called Montgomery: A tall, quiet Irishman of thirty-seven, once a captain in the King's army, who commands the other army sent against Quebec. First in Chapter Eight.
Guy Carleton called General Carleton: Governor of Quebec and once Wolfe's quartermaster, holding the town for the King. First in Chapter Eight.
Roger Enos called Colonel Enos: Colonel commanding the rear division of Arnold's march. First in Chapter Eight.
Henry Dearborn called Captain Dearborn: A captain on the march, whose dog the starving men ate. First in Chapter Eight.
Isaac Senter called Dr Senter: Surgeon to the expedition. First in Chapter Eight.
Aaron Burr called young Burr: A young volunteer who marched with Arnold's column and went to Montgomery's staff. First in Chapter Eight.
Ethan Allen: Arnold's rival, who walked off with the credit for Ticonderoga in May 1775. First in Chapter Eight.
Margaret Arnold called Margaret: Arnold's wife, who died at New Haven in June 1775 while he was on Lake Champlain. First in Chapter Eight.
Hannah Arnold called Hannah: Arnold's sister, keeping his three boys and his shop at New Haven. First in Chapter Eight.

Before Boston

George Washington called General Washington: Commander of the Continental army besieging Boston from Cambridge, who sent Arnold to Quebec. First in Chapter Eight. Voice of Chapters Ten, Seventeen, Thirty-one and Forty-one.
William Howe called General Howe: The King's general commanding the army in Boston. First in Chapter Six.
Henry Knox called Colonel Knox: A Boston bookseller turned gunner, twenty-five, who has brought the guns of Ticonderoga three hundred miles through the winter. First in Chapter Nine.
Rufus Putnam: The engineer whose timber frames let earthworks go up on frozen ground. First in Chapter Ten.
Israel Putnam called old Putnam: The veteran general at Cambridge. First in Chapter Ten.
Joseph Reed called Reed: Washington's confidant in Philadelphia, to whom he writes his mind. First in Chapter Ten.

The Mohawks in London

Joseph Brant called Brant: Thayendanegea, a Mohawk of Canajoharie, thirty-three, once a scholar at Dr Wheelock's school, who has come to London to ask the King what the Mohawks will be given for their loyalty. First in Chapter Eleven. Voice of Chapters Eleven, Nineteen, Thirty and Thirty-seven.
John Hill Oteroughyanento called John Hill: A Mohawk who comes to London with Brant. First in Chapter Eleven.
Peter Johnson called Peter: Brant's nephew, sixteen, the eldest son of his sister Molly and Sir William Johnson, who helped take Ethan Allen at Montreal. First in Chapter Eleven.
Guy Johnson called Colonel Johnson: Sir William Johnson's nephew and son-in-law, in London to be confirmed as the King's superintendent of the Indians. First in Chapter Eleven.
Daniel Claus called Colonel Claus: Sir William Johnson's other son-in-law, who interprets for Brant at Whitehall. First in Chapter Eleven.
Gilbert Tice called Captain Tice: An officer of the Indian department, who crosses to England with Brant's party. First in Chapter Eleven.
George Romney called Mr Romney: A painter from the north of England, who paints Brant in Cavendish Square for the Earl of Warwick. First in Chapter Eleven.
James Boswell called Boswell: A Scotch gentleman who calls on Brant and writes down everything he says. First in Chapter Eleven.

New York, 1776

Asa Kendall Invented: A Bedford man in Eli's regiment, with six children at home, who knows everything a day before anybody else and is wrong about half of it. First in Chapter Fifteen.
Richard Howe called Lord Howe: Admiral Viscount Howe, the General's elder brother, who holds with him the King's commission to treat, and has a sailor's way of standing. First in Chapter Sixteen.
Henry Strachey called Mr Strachey: Lord Howe's secretary, who takes the minutes at Staten Island. First in Chapter Sixteen.

The Delaware, December 1776

John Glover called Glover: Colonel of the Marblehead regiment, fishermen who row the army across rivers, who says his boys can manage the ice. First in Chapter Seventeen.
Nathanael Greene called Greene: A Rhode Island general, who commands one of the two columns that march on Trenton. First in Chapter Seventeen.
John Sullivan called General Sullivan: A New Hampshire general, taken on Long Island and since exchanged, who commands the column on the river road. First in Chapter Seventeen.
Tench Tilghman called Tilghman: Washington's aide, a Philadelphian of thirty-two, who serves without pay and never wastes a word. First in Chapter Seventeen.
Benjamin Rush called Dr Rush: A Philadelphia physician and member of the Congress, who watches Washington write the countersign. First in Chapter Seventeen.
Johann Rall called Rall: The colonel commanding the Hessian brigade at Trenton. First in Chapter Seventeen.
William Washington: A captain of Virginians and a distant cousin of the General, who goes at the Hessian guns in King Street. First in Chapter Seventeen.
James Monroe called Lieutenant Monroe: A young Virginia lieutenant, who goes at the guns with him. First in Chapter Seventeen.

London, spring 1777

John Burgoyne called General Burgoyne: A general home from Canada, fifty-five, who writes comedies, games at Brooks's and lost his wife in June, and who brings Dartmouth a plan for the coming campaign. First in Chapter Eighteen.
William Knox called Knox: Under-secretary in the American department since 1770, an Irishman with a good pen and the hardest opinions in the building, who drafts everything. First in Chapter Eighteen.
Christopher D'Oyly called Mr D'Oyly: The department's other under-secretary, a friend of Sir William Howe, who writes to him privately by every packet. First in Chapter Eighteen.

Oriskany, August 1777

Barry St Leger called St Leger: The lieutenant-colonel commanding the expedition sent by Lake Ontario and Oswego down the Mohawk River, laying siege to Fort Stanwix, with a sensible soldier's face that shows nothing. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Sir John Johnson called Sir John: Sir William Johnson's son, a baronet and colonel of a regiment of loyal New Yorkers in green coats, who commands the ambush on the road from Oriska. First in Chapter Nineteen.
John Butler called Butler: An officer of the Indian department at Niagara, who met the Senecas at Irondequoit with presents and brings his rangers to the ambush. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Sayenqueraghta called Old Smoke: A Seneca war chief, old and over six feet tall, who leads the Senecas to the siege and was told they would only have to smoke their pipes and look on. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Cornplanter: The young Seneca war chief who leads them with him. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Blacksnake: A young Seneca, who fights all day in the bottom of the ravine. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Nicholas Herkimer called General Herkimer: General of the Tryon County militia, a Palatine farmer of nearly fifty from the Falls, who has known Brant for twenty years and marches to raise the siege. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Han Yerry Tewahangarahken called Han Yerry: An Oneida of Oriska, who marches with Herkimer's militia, his wife and son beside him. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Susanna Brant called Susanna: Brant's wife, at Oquaga with his children, who has the cough his first wife had. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Isaac Brant called Isaac: Brant's son by his first wife, Peggie. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Christina Brant called Christina: Brant's daughter by his first wife, Peggie. First in Chapter Nineteen.

The Lower Counties, September 1777

Stephen Lewis called Captain Lewis: Captain of the company of Kent County militia in which Dickinson serves as a private. First in Chapter Twenty.
Cahoon Invented: A long-jawed boy of Lewis's company, on picket beside Dickinson in the fog, eating an apple. First in Chapter Twenty.
Joseph Galloway called Galloway: Dickinson's old rival in Pennsylvania politics, who brought the first Congress a plan of union under the Crown, has gone over to General Howe, and writes from Philadelphia. First in Chapter Twenty.

Bemis Heights, October 1777

Horatio Gates called General Gates: Commander of the northern army, once Arnold's friend, who has taken his command from him and does not leave his headquarters. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
James Wilkinson called Wilkinson: Gates's adjutant-general, twenty, with a high opinion of himself and a higher one of General Gates. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
John Armstrong called Major Armstrong: An aide of General Gates, sent after Arnold to bring him back to camp before he does something rash. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
Richard Varick called Varick: Arnold's aide and General Schuyler's friend, who brings him the news after midnight. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
Simon Fraser called General Fraser: Burgoyne's best general, riding a grey horse behind the British right and making it stand. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
Heinrich Breymann called Colonel Breymann: Colonel of the German grenadiers holding the redoubt on the British right, who beats his own men back to the wall with his sword. First in Chapter Twenty-one.

Passy, December 1777

Silas Deane called Mr Deane: A Connecticut merchant and commissioner of the Congress in Paris since the summer of 1776, buying muskets the Congress cannot pay for. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Edward Bancroft called Dr Bancroft: The commissioners' secretary, clever and obliging, who knows London and goes over there sometimes on business of his own. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
William Temple Franklin called Temple: Franklin's grandson, seventeen, who copies the commissioners' letters. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont called M. de Chaumont: Franklin's landlord at Passy, in whose house the commissioners wait for the news from America. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais called M. de Beaumarchais: A playwright who has supplied the Americans with arms through a trading house of his own invention, and who hears of everything first. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Jonathan Loring Austin called Mr Austin: Secretary to the Board of War of the Massachusetts Bay, not yet thirty, who rides post from Nantes with letters from the Council. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Conrad-Alexandre Gérard called M. Gérard: First secretary to the Comte de Vergennes, who brings the minister's messages to Passy in a plain carriage. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
The Comte de Vergennes called Vergennes: Charles Gravier, the King of France's foreign minister, a careful man who has been waiting a year to see which way the war in America will go. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Paul Wentworth: A New Hampshire man long settled in London, who calls on Deane in December 1777, without powers, to ask what would content the commissioners. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy called Madame Brillon: Franklin's neighbour at Passy, a harpsichordist who writes her own music, calls him her papa and plays chess with him on Wednesdays and Saturdays. First in Chapter Twenty-three.

Valley Forge, winter 1777 to 1778

Lem Snow Invented: A fisherman's son from Marshfield, seventeen, in Eli's gun crew, who can sing anything and has sung most of it. First in Chapter Twenty-four.
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben called the Baron: A Prussian volunteer, said to have been the great King's aide-de-camp, who speaks no English and drills a hundred men himself. First in Chapter Twenty-four.

The Congress at York, spring 1778

Henry Laurens called Mr Laurens: A South Carolina delegate and President of the Congress, who calls the members back on a Saturday evening when the dispatches from France arrive. First in Chapter Twenty-five.
Gouverneur Morris called Mr Morris: A New York delegate of twenty-six, tall and witty, whose mother lives inside the King's lines, and who drafts the Congress's answer to Lord North's bills. First in Chapter Twenty-five.
Simeon Deane: Silas Deane's brother, who rides from Casco Bay with the dispatches from Paris and will give them to nobody but the President. First in Chapter Twenty-five.
Richard Henry Lee called Mr Lee: The Virginia delegate who moved independence in 1776 and was in Virginia when it was put, back in the Congress in May 1778. First in Chapter Twenty-five.

The House of Lords, April 1778

The Earl of Chatham called Chatham: William Pitt, who won the last war, sixty-nine and ill, wrapped in flannel, who comes down to the Lords on crutches to speak on the Duke of Richmond's motion. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
William Pitt called William: Chatham's second son, eighteen and studying the law, on whose arm his father comes into the House. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
Lord Mahon: Charles Stanhope, Viscount Mahon, Chatham's son-in-law, on his other arm. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
Lord Camden: Charles Pratt, Chatham's old ally, who has spent an hour in the Prince's Chamber trying to persuade him to go home. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
Lord Temple: Chatham's wife's brother, beside him on the earls' bench. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
The Duke of Cumberland: Henry, the King's brother, not received at court, who is the first to reach Chatham when he falls. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
Lord Stamford: A peer who helps to lift Chatham when he falls. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
Lord Mansfield: The Lord Chief Justice, Chatham's enemy for the best part of forty years, the only man in the House who does not stand. First in Chapter Twenty-six.

Philadelphia and Monmouth, 1778

Sir Henry Clinton called Clinton: The King's new commander-in-chief in America, forty-eight, shy, who writes everything down and carries orders to give up Philadelphia. First in Chapter Twenty-seven. Voice of Chapters Twenty-seven and Thirty-nine, and of the Epilogue.
Wilhelm von Knyphausen called Knyphausen: The old Hessian general, who cannot finish his farewell compliment to Sir William Howe. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
The Earl of Carlisle called Lord Carlisle: Head of the King's peace commission, thirty, a friend of Fox's and a writer of verses, who lands in Philadelphia to find the army packing. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
William Eden called Mr Eden: A commissioner, who drafted the commission's letter and works out at dinner that nobody told him of the evacuation. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
Adam Ferguson called Dr Ferguson: The commissioners' secretary, a professor of moral philosophy, refused a passport to carry their letter to the Congress. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
William Cathcart called Lord Cathcart: A young officer, the tenth lord, whose father spoke in the Lords in 1775, who takes the commissioners' letter out to the American pickets under a flag. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
Henry Monckton called Monckton: Lieutenant-colonel of the second battalion of grenadiers at Monmouth. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.

Boston, November 1778

Isaac Smith called her uncle Smith: Abigail's uncle, a Boston merchant, who tells her that silver is a great argument in a town where the money is paper. First in Chapter Twenty-nine.
Frederika von Riedesel called the German general's wife: The wife of the Brunswick general, who goes down to the boats in her carriage with three small daughters. First in Chapter Twenty-nine.

Cherry Valley, November 1778

Walter Butler: Colonel Butler's son, twenty-six, escaped from Albany, who commands the rangers on the expedition to Cherry Valley. First in Chapter Thirty.
Little Beard: A young Seneca war chief, in the doorway of the Wells house when Brant comes up. First in Chapter Thirty.
Ichabod Alden called the colonel: The Massachusetts colonel who holds Cherry Valley for the Congress, and sleeps not in his fort but at the Wells house. First in Chapter Thirty.
Robert Wells called Mr Wells: A magistrate of Cherry Valley and an old friend of Sir William Johnson's, at whose table Brant once talked about the Gospel of St Mark. First in Chapter Thirty.
Samuel Dunlop called Mr Dunlop: Cherry Valley's old minister, standing in his own doorway with his daughter behind him. First in Chapter Thirty.
Little Aaron: A Mohawk chief from Oquaga, one of Brant's own people, who stands beside the minister with a hand on his shoulder. First in Chapter Thirty.
Captain Jacobs: A Mohawk of Oquaga, who hides people with Brant under a barn until dark. First in Chapter Thirty.
John McDonell called Captain McDonell: A captain of Butler's rangers, who burns the valley with Brant the next morning. First in Chapter Thirty.
Jane Campbell called Mrs Campbell: The wife of a Cherry Valley militia colonel, carried off towards Niagara with her four children. First in Chapter Thirty.
Mrs Cannon: Mrs Campbell's old mother, carried off with her, who cannot keep up. First in Chapter Thirty.

Middlebrook, winter 1778 to 1779

Alexander Hamilton called Hamilton: One of Washington's aides, riding behind him along the lines at Middlebrook. First in Chapter Thirty-one.
Martha Washington called Martha: Washington's wife, who comes back with him to Middlebrook for the rest of the winter. First in Chapter Thirty-one.
Catharine Greene called Caty Greene: Nathanael Greene's wife, with whom Washington dances for upwards of three hours without once sitting down. First in Chapter Thirty-one.

Philadelphia, spring 1779

Peggy Shippen called Peggy: The Judge's youngest daughter, eighteen, clever and composed, who marries Arnold on 8 April 1779. First in Chapter Thirty-two.
Edward Shippen called the Judge: Peggy's father, a cautious Philadelphia judge who sat out the occupation without saying a word that could be repeated. First in Chapter Thirty-two.
Matthew Clarkson called Major Clarkson: Arnold's aide, on whose arm he stands to take his wedding vows. First in Chapter Thirty-two.
Joseph Stansbury called Mr Stansbury: A Philadelphia china merchant and writer of comic verses, with friends in New York. First in Chapter Thirty-two.
John André called Captain André: An officer on Sir Henry Clinton's staff at New York, who drew Peggy Shippen's likeness in the winter of the occupation, and who appears by a letter. First in Chapter Thirty-two.

Westminster, summer 1779

Anne North called Anne: North's wife, at Bushy with their youngest son. First in Chapter Thirty-three.
Dudley North called Dudley: North's youngest son, just two, lying ill with a fever at Bushy in June 1779. First in Chapter Thirty-three.
David Hartley called Mr Hartley: Member for Hull, earnest and long-winded, who has proposed peace with America in every session of the war. First in Chapter Thirty-three.
Charles Jenkinson called Mr Jenkinson: Secretary at War, smooth and grey, who asks whether the whole force is meant to include America. First in Chapter Thirty-three.
Lord John Cavendish: The best of the Rockinghams in the Commons, who moves that the whole force of the country be turned against the House of Bourbon. First in Chapter Thirty-three.
John Robinson called Robinson: Secretary to the Treasury, who sits behind North in the House and brings him his boxes. First in Chapter Thirty-three.
The Marquess of Rockingham called Lord Rockingham: Leader of the opposition in the Lords, slight and pale, who has said for years what the Americans want. First in Chapter Thirty-five.
Lady Dartmouth: Dartmouth's wife, who plays the new hymn from Olney at prayers. First in Chapter Thirty-five.

Passy and the Atlantic, 1779

Anne-Catherine Helvétius called Madame Helvétius: A philosopher's widow at Auteuil, kept company by her cats and her young abbés, whom Franklin has been meaning for some time to ask something. First in Chapter Thirty-eight.
Captain Allison Invented: The master of the Philadelphia brig that carries Franklin home from France, at sea since he was eleven, who mentions Dr Franklin's fame once and never again. First in Chapter Thirty-eight.

New York, September 1779

Mary Baddeley called Mrs Baddeley: Sir Henry Clinton's housekeeper at New York, who knows when not to ask him anything. First in Chapter Thirty-nine.
Stephen Kemble called Kemble: Clinton's deputy adjutant general, who keeps a journal. First in Chapter Thirty-nine.

Boston, October 1779

William Lee called Will Lee: Washington's body servant, enslaved, who has shaved and dressed him every morning of the war. First in Chapter Forty-one.

New York, October 1780

Harry Washington: A tall, quiet pioneer on Clinton's list, formerly the property of General Washington, who sailed for Halifax in September. First in the Epilogue.
Thomas Peters: A sergeant in the Black Pioneers, who left his master at Wilmington in 1776, and once came to headquarters about the company's pay and went away with half of it. First in the Epilogue.
Hannah Invented: The woman who asked Sir Henry Clinton at Philadelphia whether they might come, going aboard a transport for Halifax two years later with her son and a claim written against her name. First in the Epilogue.
Cuffee Invented: Hannah's son, four, in a coat that was somebody's waistcoat, carrying a bundle of his own. First in the Epilogue.

Book Two · 1840 to 1841

Constitution Hill

Through Chapter Thirty, God Save the King

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

Prince Albert Chapter One, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twenty, Chapter Twenty-four and Chapter Twenty-eight
Henry Clay Chapter Two, Chapter Nine, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Twenty-three and Chapter Twenty-seven
Lord Melbourne Chapter Three, Chapter Eight, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Twenty-one and Chapter Twenty-nine
John Quincy Adams Chapter Four, Chapter Seven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Nineteen and Chapter Twenty-five
Ernest the First Chapter Ten, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Twenty-two, Chapter Twenty-six and Chapter Thirty

London, February 1840

Prince Albert called Albert: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, twenty, a Royal Highness for four days, who marries his cousin the Queen at the Chapel Royal in the rain. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Five, Six, Eleven, Twenty, Twenty-four and Twenty-eight.
Queen Victoria called the Queen: Twenty, three months older than her husband, who believes the rain will cease because, for nearly three years, things generally have. First in Chapter One.
The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha called his father: Albert's father, Ernest, in dark green faced with red, with a voice for such occasions that is warm and a little thick and sincere for as long as it lasts. First in Chapter One.
Prince Ernest of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha called Ernest: Albert's elder brother, brought up with him as if they were twins, who says nothing at all on the wedding morning. First in Chapter One.
Lord Melbourne called Melbourne: The Prime Minister, sixty, tall and heavy and handsome, who carries the Sword of State before the Queen and comes to her every afternoon with the boxes. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters Three, Eight, Thirteen, Seventeen, Twenty-one and Twenty-nine.
Louise Lehzen called the Baroness Lehzen: The Queen's governess since she was five, who keeps the keys, the door, the household and the Queen's letters. First in Chapter One.
George Anson called Mr Anson: Lord Melbourne's private secretary until lately, given to Albert as his own, and very civil about it. First in Chapter One.
The Duke of Sussex: The Queen's uncle, who gives her away in the black silk skull-cap he wears everywhere. First in Chapter One.
Queen Adelaide: The old King's widow, in purple velvet and ermine, kind and plain. First in Chapter One.
The Duchess of Kent: The Queen's mother and Albert's aunt, who is not on speaking terms with her daughter about half the time, and is trying very hard today. First in Chapter One.
William Howley called the Archbishop of Canterbury: Who reads the marriage service in the thin voice of a very old man who has read it a great many times and means every word. First in Chapter One.
Sir George Smart: At the organ of the Chapel Royal, playing rather well and rather too loud. First in Chapter One.

New Westminster, March 1840

Henry Clay called Clay: The Prime Minister, sixty-two, who lives in a boarding house because a house of his own would have nobody in it at breakfast, and who has had a letter from Kentucky. First in Chapter Two. Voice of Chapters Two, Nine, Fourteen, Eighteen, Twenty-three and Twenty-seven.
Daniel Webster called Webster: Clay's ally and rival in the coalition, presented to the Queen the summer before, who seconds the address with a heavy cold. First in Chapter Two.
Orrin Meacham called the Speaker Invented: Speaker of the House of Commons, from Ohio, the first the House has taken from beyond the mountains. First in Chapter Two.
Edward Stanly called Stanly: Of North Carolina, thirty, one of Clay's mess, who reads the London news aloud because he likes to be listened to. First in Chapter Two.
George W. Crabb called Crabb: Of Alabama, another of the mess, who knows how such things are done, and would crown the Queen's uncle a little early. First in Chapter Two.
Charles Dupuy called Charles: Enslaved by Clay, his servant, who shaves him on the morning of the debate and stops when he moves his head. First in Chapter Two.
Mrs Arguelles: Who keeps the boarding house where Clay lodges, and the table where votes are made. First in Chapter Two.

London, April 1840

Charles Greville called Greville: Clerk of the Privy Council, who looks for a precedent for a war nobody calls one, and is known to keep a journal. First in Chapter Three.

New Westminster, May 1840

John Quincy Adams called Adams: The Governor-General, seventy-two, Prime Minister once until Jackson put him out, who keeps a diary he began as a boy and may warn the Union but not act for it. First in Chapter Four. Voice of Chapters Four, Seven, Twelve, Sixteen, Nineteen and Twenty-five.
Louisa Catherine Adams: His wife, born in London, often ill, who comes down the stairs in her wrapper from the bed she has been told to keep. First in Chapter Four.
Mary Catherine Hellen Adams called Mary: The widow of his son John, who keeps his house and writes for him when he cannot. First in Chapter Four.
Mary Louisa Adams: Mary's daughter, eleven, who reads him the French Bible in the mornings, stumbling over the long words, and whose sister died in November. First in Chapter Four.
Joseph John Gurney: An English Quaker, banker and minister, brother of Elizabeth Fry, back from a winter among the freed people of the West Indies, who preaches on a hot Sunday in the old port town. First in Chapter Four.
Dr John M. Thomas called Dr Thomas: The Adams family's physician, who knows his patient. First in Chapter Four.
Dr May: The younger of the name, who helps Dr Thomas set a shoulder in the Lord Chancellor's room. First in Chapter Four.

London, June 1840

Isaac Cart called Cart: Albert's valet, from Morges on the lake of Geneva, married in April, who says nothing when London begins to look at Swiss valets. First in Chapter Five.
Thomas Fowell Buxton called Mr Buxton: The leader of the cause against the slave trade, who has plans for steamers on the Niger and shakes the Prince's hand as if he were working a pump. First in Chapter Five.
Dr Stephen Lushington called Dr Lushington: Judge and abolitionist, who brings the Prince up on to the platform at Exeter Hall and moves the second resolution. First in Chapter Five.
Sir Robert Peel called Peel: Leader of the Opposition, who speaks last, very well, with his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, and is cheered nearly as loudly as the Prince. First in Chapter Five.
Sir James Clark: The Queen's physician, who comes at half past six with his coat unbuttoned. First in Chapter Six.
Dr Charles Locock called Dr Locock: The Queen's accoucheur, who told her to put her feet up whenever she could, and who comes because of the child. First in Chapter Six.
Sir Benjamin Brodie called Brodie: Serjeant-Surgeon, grey and quiet and very quick, who has said the same thing to a great many people and never learnt a better way of saying it. First in Chapter Six.
James Brown called Brown: The outrider who rides behind the Queen's carriage, a yard from the wheel. First in Chapter Six.
The Earl of Uxbridge called Uxbridge: The Lord Chamberlain, who saw the boy in his cell at Gardener's Lane and asked him how he dared. First in Chapter Eight.
The Marquess of Normanby called Normanby: The Home Secretary, very handsome and very pale, in whose office the box from the lodging is opened. First in Chapter Eight.
Lord John Russell called Russell: Leader of the Commons, five weeks after his uncle was murdered in his bed, who calls the papers a boy's romance. First in Chapter Eight.
Sir John Campbell called the Attorney-General: Who does not see that it helps to know whose hand wrote the letters. First in Chapter Eight.
Fox Maule: Under-Secretary at the Home Office, who holds the letters up to the lamp. First in Chapter Eight.
The Marquess of Lansdowne called Lansdowne: Lord President and one of the Lords Justices, who gave the signal for the cheer at St James's in 1837 and gives it again. First in Chapter Eight.
Lord Denman called Denman: Lord Chief Justice, and one of the Lords Justices, who asks in his precise way whether the clause saving the rights of issue should stand. First in Chapter Eight.
The Duke of Wellington called the Duke: Seventy-one, and a ruin in February by Greville's account, named alone in the King's sealed paper, who did not expect to be taken at his word. First in Chapter Eight.
Lord Palmerston called Palmerston: The Foreign Secretary and Melbourne's brother-in-law, who has a Queen's Messenger booted and waiting in the courtyard. First in Chapter Eight.
Ernest the First called the King: King of Hanover since 1837 and now of the rest, sixty-nine, scarred, with one good eye, who comes up the river to Greenwich as George the First did and has not read an English newspaper of his own accord for thirty years. First in Chapter Ten. Voice of Chapters Ten, Fifteen, Twenty-two, Twenty-six and Thirty.
The Duke of Cambridge: The King's youngest brother, Adolphus, who meets him on the terrace at Greenwich with his wig askew and embraces him in the German way. First in Chapter Ten.
Baron Stockmar called Stockmar: Uncle Leopold's physician at Claremont in 1817, who tells Albert how Leopold sat up after Princess Charlotte died. First in Chapter Eleven.
Colonel Buckley: An equerry, who walks up Constitution Hill at a hind wheel of the hearse, where he ought to have been on the tenth of June. First in Chapter Eleven.
Sir Edward Bowater: The other equerry, at the other hind wheel, who knows why it is those two. First in Chapter Eleven.

New Westminster, June 1840

William Cranch called Judge Cranch: Adams's first cousin, on the bench of the District's court since the government came to the city, who comes to breakfast about a nephew in gaol and goes away without him. First in Chapter Seven.
Henry A. Wise called Wise: Wise of Accomack, thirty-three, thin and quick and loud, who loves Clay this summer with the whole of his heart and gives him a dinner. First in Chapter Nine.

New Westminster, July 1840

Mrs Thornton: A widow who has lived in New Westminster since there was nothing in it but the plans, and who thinks the sermon radical. First in Chapter Twelve.
Miss Cutts: The niece of an old friend, very kind to children, who takes Mary Louisa to the fireworks on Charter Day. First in Chapter Twelve.
Fanny Elssler: The first great dancer from the Paris Opera to come to the city, who dances La Cracovienne with little bells on her boots. First in Chapter Twelve.
Joseph Story called Story: The Chief Justice, at Cambridge, who answers the question of the summer in a private letter of two sides and trusts the Governor-General not to use it as a judgment. First in Chapter Sixteen.

London, July 1840

Richard Monckton Milnes called Milnes: Member for Pontefract on the wrong side of the House, who goes everywhere, and took a window for the hanging. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Lady Holland: Who has had a new bolt put on her bedroom door, and tells Lord Melbourne that he is eating nothing. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Sir Thomas Wilde called Wilde: The Solicitor-General, who tells the jury that mercy is but the second duty of a court of justice. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Sidney Taylor called Taylor: Counsel for the prisoner, who tells the jury what the sentence for treason is and asks what motive any sane person could have had. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Dr John Conolly called Conolly: Of Hanwell, with eight hundred and fifty lunatics in his care, who tells the court what the prisoner said to him in Newgate. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Francis Baring called Mr Baring: Chancellor of the Exchequer, solemn and careful, who explains to the King that his Civil List can wait for the next Parliament. First in Chapter Fifteen.

London, September 1840

Lord Holland called Holland: Chancellor of the Duchy, gouty and sweet, whose loud whisper at the Cabinet table everybody hears, and who dies in October. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
Thomas Babington Macaulay called Macaulay: The Secretary at War, who cannot bear a silence, and talks about France in a loud voice. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
John Allen called Allen: Of Holland House, who tells Lord Melbourne the last thing Holland said, and leaves him alone in the library. First in Chapter Twenty-one.

New Westminster, December 1840

William S. Smith called William: The Governor-General's sister's son, freed from the District gaol by the court's own order, who cannot stop thanking everybody. First in Chapter Twenty-five.

London, January 1841

Lord Brougham called Brougham: On the benches of the Painted Chamber, with his twitching face, who has called the King a great many things in print. First in Chapter Thirty.

Book Three · 1859 to 1866

The Honest Silence

Through Chapter Thirty, The Same Hands

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

Harpers Ferry, October 1859

Henry Ashton called Henry Invented: A first lieutenant of engineers, twenty-seven, from Marlfield on the Rappahannock in King George County, Virginia, who is taken to Harpers Ferry because he knows where the armoury's drawings are kept, and who writes it all down for the King in 1866. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine and Thirty.
Robert E. Lee called Colonel Lee: On leave at Arlington and in a civilian suit, sent by the ministry to command the federal force, who can close a subject with a pleasant remark. First in Chapter One.
J. E. B. Stuart called Stuart: A lieutenant of cavalry and Henry's classmate at West Point, where they called him Beauty, who goes forward to the engine house under a flag. First in Chapter One.
John Brown called Brown: Fifty-nine, who has taken the armoury with fewer than twenty men and holds out in the engine house with his hostages, and who asks Henry one question. First in Chapter One.
Lewis Washington: A gentleman of the Washington family and Brown's most valuable hostage, who calls out to the marines to fire and will not come out without his gloves. First in Chapter One.

New Westminster, November 1859

Mary Brown: John Brown's wife, a tall woman in black with a face like a closed door, who comes south to see him before he is sentenced. First in Chapter Two.

Marlfield, Christmas 1859

Mrs Ashton Invented: Henry's mother, widowed in 1857, who waits on the porch with a lamp and lets a subject lie where it can be found again. First in Chapter Two.
Edmund Ashton called Edmund Invented: Henry's younger brother, who learned his drill from Major Jackson at the Military Institute at Lexington and is first lieutenant of the county company raised after Harpers Ferry. First in Chapter Two.
Daniel Invented: Born at Marlfield in the same month as Henry, whom he taught to swim; a forge hand hired out to the ironworks below Fredericksburg, home for Christmas, who listens very carefully. First in Chapter Two.
Rachel Invented: Daniel's mother, who keeps the kitchen at Marlfield. First in Chapter Two.
Mr Coakley Invented: The agent of the ironworks below Fredericksburg, a heavy, civil man with ink on his cuffs, who has the hiring bonds drawn up and waiting every New Year. First in Chapter Two.

St Mary's and Richmond, 1858 to 1861

Anne Ashton called Anne Invented: Born Anne Pell, married to Henry in June 1860, who copied her father's committee reports and knows the electors of every borough on the schedule. First in Chapter Three.
Hiram Pell called Mr Pell Invented: Member for St Mary's City, in Maryland, who chaired the committee whose schedule abolished his own seat, and never held office or wanted to. First in Chapter Three.
Philip Lightfoot called Philip Invented: Henry's classmate at West Point, who resigned to read law in Richmond, and explains the constitutional position in the gallery of the House of Delegates. First in Chapter Three.

New Westminster, April 1861

Abraham Lincoln called the Prime Minister: A long, ungainly man in a black coat that does not fit him, who goes down to the Commons after Sumter and asks for the means instead of proclaiming. First in Chapter Four.

London, summer 1861

The American Minister called the Minister Invented: At the Court of St James's, a New England lawyer and the son of a lawyer, with a dry voice and a mind like a good lock. First in Chapter Six.
The mill owner from Blackburn Invented: A member of the British House of Commons with three mills near Blackburn, who asks Henry at a dinner in Belgrave Square whether he thinks the blockade is just. First in Chapter Six.
Lord Palmerston: The British Prime Minister, an old man with dyed whiskers and a high colour, seen across a room at the Foreign Office, who has not decided. First in Chapter Six.
Ernest II called the King: Forty-two and blind, to whom the whole account is addressed, who stands at the end of a long room at St James's and commands it by standing still. First in Chapter Seven.
Queen Marie called the Queen: The King's wife, who comes into the Chapel Royal a half-step ahead of him with her hand on his arm. First in Chapter Eight.
Ernest, Prince of Wales called the Prince of Wales: The King's son, eleven, who looks down into the Chapel Royal over the edge of the pew until a lady touches his shoulder. First in Chapter Eight.

Lancashire, September 1861

The weaver's wife Invented: Perhaps thirty, very thin, in a clean apron, who lays a cloth for Henry in two rooms behind the mill, makes tea she cannot afford, and asks him what the war is for. First in Chapter Nine.

The Capital Works, autumn 1861

The man from Fairfax Invented: About Henry's age, who walks into the works on the Virginia heights one night with his wife and his little boy, and digs as well as any man on the ditch. First in Chapter Ten.
The colonel from Lancaster Invented: Colonel of the Pennsylvania regiment that lends Henry a company for the polls at Leonardtown, who thanks him afterwards for the dullest day his men ever spent. First in Chapter Ten.

The river forts, February 1862

Ulysses S. Grant called the General: Thirty-nine and commanding every army the Crown has in America, small and quiet in a private soldier's blouse with a general's straps sewn on crooked, who reads the Colonel's letters twice without his face moving and asks what the works cost to keep. First in Chapter Eleven.
Ely S. Parker called Parker: A sachem of the Seneca and a civil engineer on Grant's staff, big, quiet and with beautiful handwriting, who knows where every regiment in the army is and copies the despatch from the river forts fair. First in Chapter Eleven.

Tybee and the Sea Islands, spring 1862

The woman on St Helena Invented: Perhaps fifty, small and very straight, who has pulled up her master's cotton and planted corn in its place, and says that if the King wants the cotton he can come and ask her for it himself. First in Chapter Twelve.

Falmouth and the capital, summer 1862

The member from Ohio Invented: A lawyer who kept Christmas at the widow's with Henry and Anne, and gives Henry a ticket for the gallery so that he can see the war from inside the House. First in Chapter Thirteen.

Arlington Heights, August and September 1862

Thomas J. Jackson called Jackson: Edmund's old professor at Lexington, who commands the rebel armies; a tall, plain man on a horse too small for him, eating half a lemon, who rides along the burial trenches under a flag of truce and praises the ditch. First in Chapter Fifteen.
Tom Sisson Invented: A corporal of the King George company, whose father was the overseer at Woodlawn, who comes to the stakes at the truce to ask whether the captain is alive. First in Chapter Fifteen.

The capital and the camps, winter 1862 to 1863

Annie Lee called Annie: The Colonel's daughter, the quietest of the girls at the Superintendent's table at West Point, who once answered a question about fortification that none of the cadets could, and dies of typhoid at twenty-three. First in Chapter Sixteen.
The colonel from Massachusetts Invented: A young man of a family against slavery since before he was born, who asked for the command of the regiment that digs on Henry's works, and knows what it will do when the paymaster comes. First in Chapter Sixteen.
The surgeon from Philadelphia Invented: A young man with a face like an old man's, who has written to the department eleven times about the camp on the low ground by the river. First in Chapter Sixteen.

Atlanta and the march, summer 1863

William T. Sherman called General Sherman: Tall, thin and untidy, red-haired, with a face creased like a map folded too often, who talks all the time and wants every rail between Atlanta and the sea bent past straightening. First in Chapter Seventeen.
The first sergeant Invented: Of Henry's company of engineers, once a foreman in a rolling mill in Pittsburgh, who walks through the machine shops at Atlanta touching the lathes. First in Chapter Seventeen.
The widow east of the Oconee Invented: About Henry's mother's age, in black, who gives the officers supper so that her house will stand, and asks Henry whether he has a mother. First in Chapter Eighteen.
The general at the river Invented: Commanding the division at the rear of the column, who wants the bridge up as soon as his last regiment is over. First in Chapter Eighteen.

Charles Town in South Carolina, October 1863

The doorkeeper Invented: An old man who stayed with the empty chamber of the American States because nobody told him not to, and knows by heart the address that opened every sitting. First in Chapter Twenty.

Gettysburg, November 1863

Edward Everett called the Governor-General: Sixty-nine, tall and white-haired, who speaks for two hours at the dedication of the burying ground and that evening, in a dressing gown by the fire, asks Henry about the King. First in Chapter Twenty-one.

Arlington, spring 1864

Mary Lee called Mrs Lee: The Colonel's wife, who cannot walk, and is carried up the steps of the shut house in her chair to sign the sale of its lawn, in a hand that was once very good. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Abel Invented: An old man who worked the river fields at Arlington for fifty years, and draws the line of the great freshet in the mud of a street below the canal with the end of his stick, because he carried the sandbags. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
The lieutenant with the book Invented: Of the Quartermaster-General's department, young and very correct, who asks at the first burials where the coloured soldier is to go. First in Chapter Twenty-two.

St Mary's County, summer 1864

The people at Mr Pell's Invented: The nine Mr Pell owns and Anne grew up among, who have a surname nobody else in the county uses: Isaac Jordan and Hannah his wife, their son Ned, Ned's wife Lucy and their two children, Betsey, Moses the carpenter, and old Sarah, who nursed Anne. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
The valuer Invented: A heavy, quiet man of about sixty with a red face and very good boots, who was a dealer for thirty years and is now the Crown's best judge of the price of a man. First in Chapter Twenty-three.
The young man at Leonardtown Invented: About twenty-five, in a carter's smock, freed by the army's order in King George County, who crosses the Potomac to work at the fisheries and is claimed in the court at Leonardtown. First in Chapter Twenty-three.

Government House, winter 1864 to 1865

Salmon P. Chase called Mr Chase: Sworn as Governor-General in the plain room at Government House, who talks to the Colonel very seriously about the readmission of the polities and thanks him for counsel he has not given. First in Chapter Twenty-five.
Mrs King Invented: A woman Henry does not know, on Daniel's arm at the watch night in a church of the capital on the last night of 1864. First in Chapter Twenty-five.

The courts, 1865

Jefferson Davis called the Lord Protector: Tall, thin, grey and very upright, past fifty, who sat in the Commons before the war, and in the dock restates the constitutional argument with perfect composure. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
The old counsel from Baltimore Invented: Very courteous, with a soft voice and the manner of a man who expects to be believed, who defends Philip and asks Henry whether anybody knows who returned the packet. First in Chapter Twenty-six.

The Lords, summer 1865

The old lord from the Eastern Shore Invented: Of Maryland, who voted against the war in 1861 and moves an address praying the Crown's mercy for every man indicted for the rebellion, whatever his part. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.

King George County, spring 1866

The captain of the garrison Invented: A young man from Vermont who was a schoolmaster before the war, quartered in the old jury room of the courthouse, who copies every report fair before he sends it, and reports the next one. First in Chapter Twenty-eight.
Wesley Norris: Once held at Arlington among the people the Colonel's father-in-law left to be freed, whose account of a whipping there in 1859 is printed in an abolitionist newspaper. First in Chapter Twenty-eight.

London, October 1866

The gentleman of the household Invented: Fifty or so, in a black coat, with a quiet voice and very clean hands, who receives papers for the King at St James's, tells Henry there is no hurry, and promises nothing. First in Chapter Thirty.

Book Four · 1941 to 1946

The Gunner's Line

Through the Epilogue

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices.

Lexington, March 1946

James Wheeler called James Invented: Home from the war five months and back on his family's farm outside Lexington, who buys two composition books at the drugstore to write it all down, including the parts he does not know. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine, Thirty, Thirty-one and Thirty-two, and of the Prologue, and of the Epilogue.
Lucien Morel called Lucien Invented: A young man in Normandy whose family keeps a provisions shop, who writes to James in English with the French underlined, and always gives the price of eggs. First in the Prologue.

Lexington, December 1941

Thomas Wheeler called James's father Invented: Fifty-one, who farms the place on the Bedford side of the town, went to Belgium in the last war, and has never said anything about it except that it rained. First in Chapter One.
Mrs Wheeler called James's mother Invented: Who keeps anything that comes from away on the shelf over the sink, and lets a halter on the kitchen table go because it is Sunday. First in Chapter One.
Clara Wheeler called Clara Invented: James's sister, thirteen, who sighs over her arithmetic and finds Honolulu in the atlas. First in Chapter One.
Eli Wheeler called Eli Invented: James's great-great-great-grandfather, a gunner of the Four-Year War, who dropped his musket at Kip's Bay at fifteen and had it charged against his pay; known to the family chiefly as a joke. First in Chapter One.
Ernest IV called the King: Heard on the radio for the first time, a quiet man speaking slowly, who says nothing about winning. First in Chapter One.
Franklin D. Roosevelt called Roosevelt: The Prime Minister, heard over the radio at the grain store asking Parliament for war, sounding tired and very definite. First in Chapter One.

Fort Sill, 1942

Peter Mercer called Peter Invented: Nineteen, from Dayton in Ohio, two years into history at college, in the next bunk at Fort Sill; short-sighted and dry, who carries a bag of books everywhere and polishes his glasses when he hears something foolish. First in Chapter Two.
Staff Sergeant Dempsey called Dempsey Invented: An instructor at the artillery school with nineteen years in the Corps, who times every drill by the clock on the gun park and would rather know what is broken than what has been mended. First in Chapter Two.
Edward Kettering called Captain Kettering Invented: A schoolmaster from Connecticut, about thirty-five, given command of C Battery in the autumn of 1942, who believes a thing done properly turns out right more often than a thing done brilliantly. First in Chapter Two.

Germany, 1943

Karl Brandauer called Brandauer Invented: A private from a dairy county in the Grand Duchy of Wisconsin, James's partner on the ammunition, whose German makes the Germans laugh because it is their grandparents'. First in Chapter Three.
Sergeant Oakes called Oakes Invented: Forty-four, a schoolteacher from Indiana who was a gunner in the last war, chief of the section in Germany, with an ulcer he does not tell the doctors about. First in Chapter Three.
Eddie Baca called Baca Invented: The section's corporal, twenty-five, from a desert town south of Phoenix in the March of Arizona, who keeps the records, checks every round against the command, and suspects the rain is personal. First in Chapter Three.

Devon, winter 1943 to spring 1944

Amos Ridley called Sergeant Ridley Invented: About forty-two, from the Kentucky hills, a regular since 1920 who was in North Africa with another battery; chief of the section from Devon on, with the stillest hands James has ever seen, who corrects a thing once. First in Chapter Four.
Walter Gaines called Gaines Invented: Twenty-eight, from the South End of Boston, seven years in the Massachusetts Light Infantry until it was dissolved in 1943; a corporal there and a private here, the section's loader, who has stopped asking which rule that was. First in Chapter Four.

The Cotentin, June 1944

The widow at the orchard farm Invented: About fifty, black to the elbows with soot, whose husband was killed in the barn by a shell from the sea on the day of the landing, and who lets the Americans milk her cows. First in Chapter Seven.
Lomax Invented: A driver from the ammunition section, from Georgia, who drives as though the truck has insulted him. First in Chapter Eight.
Auguste Morel called Auguste Invented: About fifty, round and red-faced, with a grey moustache; a provisions merchant of Saint-Ouen-des-Vergers who bought from the farms and sold in the towns, whose horse was killed by a shell outside the shop; he wants to know the price of American eggs. First in Chapter Nine.
Madeleine Morel called Madame Morel Invented: Forty-seven, square and straight, in a man's cap; the shop on the square at Saint-Ouen is hers, inherited from her parents and still called Lefevre's, and she looks at a mended wheel the way a mother looks at a seam. First in Chapter Nine.
Madame Lefevre Invented: Madeleine's mother, eighty-four, born over the shop and never a night out of the village until the shells came; she says one thing all evening, and it is the best thing said. First in Chapter Nine.

The hedge country, July 1944

Hollis Invented: A replacement from Pennsylvania who joined the section at the end of June, and plays poker in the lane. First in Chapter Eleven.
Rourke Invented: A private from New York who keeps watch at the gap in the hedge above the gun pit. First in Chapter Eleven.
Lieutenant Garland called Garland Invented: The battery's lieutenant at the plotting table in the farm kitchen, who would not show James Saint-Ouen on a map in July and then shows him the log. First in Chapter Fifteen.
Major Ashby Invented: A tall, tired, polite officer of the divisional artillery, about forty, who reviews the battery's orders, records and crew procedure in four hours and says exactly what the review is for. First in Chapter Sixteen.

The breakout, July and August 1944

Szabo Invented: One of the two men who came up from the depot on 13 July, from Cleveland, who holds Dunne's helmet for him. First in Chapter Seventeen.
Dunne Invented: The other, eighteen, from Rhode Island, who still asks what things are, and asks whether there was a village where the bombers had been. First in Chapter Seventeen.
T. E. Lawrence called the General: Fifty-five, small and grey and burned by the sun, on a motorcycle with two resistance men behind him; flown in from a desk in Cairo to run the liaison with the Norman resistance after its general trod on a mine, and an old acquaintance of Sergeant Ridley from the coast road in 1943. First in Chapter Eighteen.

The capital, spring 1945

Henri Castel called Monsieur Castel Invented: A master of English at a Paris lycée for twenty-six years who has never been to England, entered in the register as not French because his grandfather was born in Oran; the first man James feeds at Drancy-le-Nord, and the only one there who knows where Lexington is. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
The yard clerk Invented: The railway clerk who did the timetables for the goods yard beside Drancy-le-Nord, and comes in to work on the morning it is opened. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
The tailor Invented: An old man born in Poland, forty years a maker of trousers in Paris, who speaks Yiddish with Brandauer and asks him to find his wife, Rivka, small, in a grey coat with a fur collar. First in Chapter Twenty-six.
Monsieur Darras Invented: A schoolmaster from Saint-Denis with a tricolour armband, one of the Council of the Republic's men, who writes down every one of the dead at the trench, by name where there is one and as unknown where there is not. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
The woman on the gatehouse step Invented: An old woman of the camp with her hair cut short, who will not go to the tents; she tells a man of the town that he heard the trains, and tells Sergeant Ridley she is sorry for his loss. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.

Book Five · 2028

Confidence

Through Chapter Twenty, The Step

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

The House of Lords, July 2028

Caleb Whitlock called Caleb Invented: Twenty-six, the seventh Baron Whitlock of Wickford, who sits on the crossbenches two days a week, sells maps three days a week, and has spoken thirty-one times, always about the Territory of Loreto. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen and Twenty.
Edmund Sayle, Lord Sayle called Lord Sayle Invented: Eighty-three, one of the forty elected hereditary peers, who sat behind Caleb's grandfather in the Lords, carries a stick and a hearing aid, and judges a division by the faces of the whips. First in Chapter One.
Matthew Quarles called Quarles Invented: About forty, the clerk of the Lords select committee on the Territory of Loreto, better dressed than his salary, and the only other person in the building who has read all of the evidence. First in Chapter One.
Ottoline, Baroness Krause called Lady Krause Invented: The Convenor of the crossbench and a former Chief Medical Officer, who says the crossbench has no views, only members. First in Chapter One.
Aubrey Fenn, Earl of Rathmore called the Lord Speaker Invented: The Lord Speaker, on the Woolsack in his black gown, who puts the question on the herring in the voice he uses for things nobody cares about. First in Chapter One.
The retired judge called the judge Invented: A small dry crossbench peer with a white moustache, who writes Disbelieve on the back of a note and is the only member of the House to shake Caleb's hand after the speech. First in Chapter Five.

The House of Commons, July 2028

Ana Valdez called the Prime Minister Invented: Prime Minister for two years and nine months, who has never fought a general election as leader of her party, and who closes the debate on the Loreto motion with no notes and her hands flat on the despatch box. First in Chapter Two.
Margaret Renwick called Renwick Invented: Leader of the Conservative and Crown Union, who moved the motion at one o'clock and spoke for forty minutes without a note and without mentioning the Territory's people. First in Chapter Two.
Signe Halvorsen called Halvorsen Invented: Leader of the Left and Solidarity Bloc, twenty-three members, who writes in a notebook on her knee through other people's speeches and looks up once. First in Chapter Two.
Margaret Considine called the Speaker Invented: Speaker of the House of Commons for sixteen years, whose voice carries the length of the chamber without being raised. First in Chapter Two.
Lucía, member for La Paz and the Cape called the woman in the grey suit Invented: One of the Territory of Loreto's five members, who sits with the other four at the end of a bench nobody made room for, and who once told Caleb's committee it had come a long way to ask questions it could have asked by post. First in Chapter Two.
Inés Carrillo called Carrillo Invented: The member for Tijuana North, in a red jacket, one of the Territory's five, with whom Caleb once had a drink in Tijuana after a session of the committee. First in Chapter Two.

The flat, the same night

Samuel Whitlock called Samuel Invented: Caleb's brother, four years younger, at home in Newport for the summer, who telephones to ask whether he was in the gallery and says their father would have loved it. First in Chapter Four.
Stephen Alcott called Alcott Invented: The ABC's presenter in New Westminster, heard on the radio, who will not guess at a number and wants to be accurate tonight about what will be said tomorrow. First in Chapter Four.
Ximena Alcazar called Alcazar Invented: The ABC's correspondent in Tijuana, who covered every session the committee held there and once asked Caleb in a corridor whether it was true he was a lord. First in Chapter Four.
Oliver Grant called Oliver Invented: Caleb's friend since their first week at King's College, when neither could row and both could sail, now the second most junior political reporter in a New York daily's bureau in the capital, who opens bottles on the edge of a table and never manages it first time. First in Chapter Twelve.

Pell's, the summer of the election

Agnes Pell called Mrs Pell Invented: Seventy-four, who has kept a map and travel shop in the old commercial quarter for forty years, employs Caleb three days a week, has never asked him what he does on the other two, and keeps the radio on the shelf behind the till switched off except on Fridays at five. First in Chapter Five.
The old man from Ensenada called the old man Invented: In his late seventies, with a straw hat held against his chest, who wants a map of Baja California with the old lines on it for his father, who is ninety-four and left Ensenada in 1951. First in Chapter Six.
Peter Ainsley called Mr Ainsley Invented: Tall and stooped, in seersucker, something at the Treasury that he has never explained, who has come into Pell's every Friday since 1990 to argue with his friend and buy a map of a walk they will take in October. First in Chapter Eight.
Frank Coyle called Mr Coyle Invented: Short and round, in a cardigan in August, a conveyancer for forty years who drew Mrs Pell's husband's will, and who will not be told that conveyancing is not law. First in Chapter Eight.
Delia Marsh called the member Invented: The Member for New Westminster, Labour, the District's one member of the Commons, who canvasses Pell's on the last Friday of the campaign and has had Mrs Pell's vote for ten years without once buying a map. First in Chapter Thirteen.

Newport, August 2028

Ellen Whitlock called his mother Invented: An attorney with a practice in Providence and a member of the Labour party, who drives an eleven-year-old car, reads every lease to the end, and has never once asked her elder son what he is going to do. First in Chapter Nine.
Thomas Whitlock called their father Invented: A teacher of history at a Newport secondary school for his whole working life, two years dead, whose stone on the hill above the harbour has no title on it, because he would have been mortified. First in Chapter Nine.

The Concord Hotel, September 2028

Ruth called Ruth Invented: About twenty-three, from Halvorsen's office, in a suit that does not quite fit her yet, who did leaflets for Count Them all summer and wants very much to know who the man in the Chesapeake Room is. First in Chapter Sixteen.
Priya Raghunathan called Raghunathan Invented: Leader of the Liberal Federal Democrats, seen for a second in a hotel corridor with three folders under her arm, arguing over whether a sentence should say may or shall. First in Chapter Sixteen.
Naomi Feldt called Feldt Invented: Leader of Alliance 90 / Green Realm, who goes past an open door with a cup of tea in one hand, reading as she walks. First in Chapter Sixteen.

Government House, 11 September 2028

Archer called Archer Invented: The Governor-General's Private Secretary, about fifty, grey and courteous and entirely without curiosity, the first person all day to look at Caleb as if there were nothing unusual about him. First in Chapter Twenty.
Michelle Lujan Grisham called the Governor-General: The Governor-General, sixty-eight, from Los Alamos, in a plain navy suit and flat shoes, who has read all thirty-one of his speeches, asks who is running his diary in the morning, and tells him to breathe out. First in Chapter Twenty.

Book Six · 2028

An Ordinary Day

Through Chapter Thirty, An Ordinary Day

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

The family

Frederick called Frederick Invented: The heir to fourteen Crowns, fifteen, at Ellicott High School under the name Frederick Hanover, who reads his father the next day's trains every afternoon at four. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine and Thirty, and of the Prologue, and of the Halloween interlude.
Ernest V called his father Invented: The King, in New Westminster General since the loss of his aircraft, who has lost most of his words and keeps the ones he has for what matters. First in the Prologue.
Queen Christina called his mother Invented: The Queen of Sweden and Regent of thirteen of her husband's realms, who speaks Swedish at home and keeps one end of the palace kitchen table. First in Chapter One.
Alexander I called Alexander Invented: German Emperor and King of Prussia, his cousin, eight months younger, who has never written to him before and sends a letter in the bag on the evening of the accession, and who comes to the Eleventh as a member of the House of Hanover and nothing else, and peels potatoes at the Hartigans' sink. First in Chapter Sixteen.

Columbia Palace

Sergeant Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: His protection officer, who takes the stairs one at a time and is always at the top first, and looks at the ceiling. First in the Prologue.
Dame Margaret Roper called Dame M Invented: The Master of the Household, a retired Navy captain, who makes notes without opening her folder. First in Chapter One.
Rosalind Aird called Rosalind Aird Invented: His Press Secretary since 3 October, who will not lie for him and keeps her best draft in her pocket. First in Chapter One.
Bridget called Bridget Invented: Of the palace kitchen, longer there than he has been, who calls him pet when nobody is listening. First in Chapter One.
The King's officer called the man at the end of the corridor Invented: One of the four of the King's protection who came out from London in September and take the sixth-floor corridor in turns, who taught Castellanos about ceilings, and says "Sir". First in Chapter Ten.
Mr Asante called Mr Asante Invented: The Duke's physiotherapist, from Ghana, who comes on Wednesdays with a rubber ball and is sworn at, and keeps coming. First in Chapter Eighteen.
Dr Haskell called Dr Haskell Invented: The Duke's physician, who gives him two hours' leave on the evening of the Eleventh, back by nine, sitting down on every landing. First in Chapter Thirty.
Mr Szabo called Mr Szabo Invented: The Household's tailor for twenty-two years, who makes the Page's coat to an instruction that said no hat, underlined twice. First in Chapter Twenty-four.

The flat on the fourth floor

Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: His friend since an alphabetical seating plan in 2025, who has never once asked him about the Crown. First in the Prologue.
Anneliese Hartigan called Mrs Hartigan Invented: Theo's mother, a nurse, whose rule is that anybody eating at her table eats what is on it. First in the Prologue.
Peter Hartigan called Mr Hartigan Invented: Theo's father, who drives the early shift and does the crossword in pencil and never finishes it. First in the Prologue.
Kate Hartigan called Kate Invented: Theo's sister, eighteen, who will talk to his friend when his friend is no longer a story, and who on Halloween, the night of the accession, comes to the side door of Columbia Palace with two masks and asks first. First in the Prologue.
Mrs Okonjo called Mrs Okonjo Invented: The Hartigans' neighbour on the second floor, told on the landing that the son upstairs is a Page of Honour and they are having goulash, who knows a wolf in a bus jacket on Halloween when she sees one, and says nothing. First in Chapter Eighteen.
Mrs Dunleavy called Mrs Dunleavy Invented: The neighbour who lends her armchair for the third-floor landing on the evening the Duke of Cumberland climbs the stairs. First in Chapter Thirty.

Ellicott and the river

Mr Abernathy called Mr Abernathy Invented: Who has taught chemistry at Ellicott for thirty-one years in the same brown jacket, and takes the register in the same voice whatever is on the television. First in Chapter Three.
Mrs Pruitt called Mrs Pruitt Invented: New in September from Baltimore to teach geometry, who wears cardigans that do not match and calls everybody by their first name. First in Chapter Three.
Devon Price called Devon Invented: A boy at the back of the geometry room, who asks in a whisper the question nobody else will. First in Chapter Three.
Marcus called Marcus Invented: Of the table of nine, who plays the trombone and knows all of only one tune. First in Chapter Three.
June called June Invented: Of the table of nine, one of the friends the Household has never named. First in Chapter Three.
Felix called Felix Invented: Of the table of nine, another, whose ties are discussed. First in Chapter Three.
Nadia called Nadia Invented: Cox of the second eight, in Year Eleven, a head shorter than her crew, who calls every outing race day. First in Chapter Four.
Mr Odum called Mr Odum Invented: Coach of the second eight, whose highest praise is that a boy does what he is told and does not think about it. First in Chapter Four.
Sam Ellison called Sam Ellison Invented: Six in the second eight, whose back, in a grey jumper with a hole in the elbow, is the whole of what Frederick watches on the river. First in Chapter Four.
Mr Ferrante called Mr Ferrante Invented: The youngest teacher at Ellicott, who teaches history as a series of crimes nobody was charged with, and stopped calling on Frederick for Kings in the first month without either of them saying so. First in Chapter Eight.
Priya called Priya Invented: June's friend, who never puts her hand up in history and always gets it right, and who rules in geometry on the day of the accession that nobody stands up, because it is not the law but manners. First in Chapter Eight.
Dr Brooks called Dr Brooks Invented: The principal of Ellicott for eleven years, who shook his hand on his first day and not since, and keeps a green visitor's chair in front of her desk for people being told things. First in Chapter Nine.
Mr Kaminski called Mr Kaminski Invented: The gym teacher, who picks the sides himself on Tuesdays and blows his whistle for travelling in exactly the same voice as always. First in Chapter Fourteen.
Mr Obi called Mr Obi Invented: The man on the side gate, who has checked Frederick's pass every afternoon for three years although he knows perfectly well who he is. First in Chapter Fourteen.
Ms Varga called Ms Varga Invented: The art teacher, under whom students from every grade make the schools' wreath for the Eleventh out of hand-cut paper poppies with names on the back. First in Chapter Twenty-eight.
Coach Daley called Coach Daley Invented: Coach of the junior varsity football side that does not win, who says Frederick has the hands of a concert pianist and the instincts of a deer. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Okoro called Okoro Invented: The junior quarterback whose one wobbling pass Frederick catches, with a minute and ten to go, in a puddle in Maryland. First in Chapter Twenty-two.

The Saturday letters

Ciaran Power called Ciaran Invented: Nine, of Bay Bulls, whose father is a deckhand on the Kathleen Marie, and whose letter was the first Frederick opened and is now framed in his own front room. First in Chapter Five.
Inés Ochoa called Mrs Ochoa Invented: A retired teacher of the fourth grade in Tucson, whose husband got his words back in a strange order and the names of birds first. First in Chapter Five.
Mrs Delacroix called the night sister Invented: The night sister on the sixth floor of New Westminster General, recommended by letter, frightened of nothing, including doctors. First in Chapter Five.

Charter Hill

Caleb Whitlock called Lord Whitlock Invented: The Prime Minister, twenty-six, heard on the car radio saying two sentences, who answers a one-line question from September with one word at the first Council of the reign. First in Chapter Two.
Harold Penhallow called Mr Penhallow Invented: Father of the House of Commons, eighty-one, a member for a Maine seat since 1986, who walks in to move the bill at eight in the morning and promises the King to do it properly. First in Chapter Nine.

The crest at Arlington

Sergeant-Major Hollis called the Sergeant-Major Invented: Regimental Sergeant-Major of the Regiment of Virginia, who teaches the King and his Page where to walk on the crest after dark, and rules that the Page's ears are the King's own business. First in Chapter Twenty-seven.
Lukas Brandt called Lukas Invented: Alexander's schoolfriend and Page, from Königsberg, who meets Theo on the crest page to page ("The back of the head." "The knees.") and dries plates at the Hartigans' with a tea towel from Door County. First in Chapter Twenty-nine.
Dorothy Calloway called Mrs Calloway Invented: The veteran chosen by the Legion to speak on the Eleventh, eighty-four, a nurse in Indochina at twenty-two, and the only voice on the crest. First in Chapter Twenty-nine.

Book Seven · 2028 to 2029

Feierabend

Through Chapter Thirty-six, Feierabend

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

The family

Alexander I called Alexander Invented: German Emperor, King of Prussia and Kaiser von Kamerun since his father died in February 2028, fourteen and then fifteen, who keeps a small observatory at Potsdam and is not allowed to act in any of his three capacities until he is sixteen. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine, Thirty, Thirty-one, Thirty-two, Thirty-three, Thirty-four, Thirty-five and Thirty-six, and of the Prologue.
George V called Frederick Invented: His cousin, eight months older, King of fourteen realms since 31 October 2028 with his mother as Regent, who writes to him every week in the diplomatic bag. First in the Prologue.
Queen Caroline called Mama Invented: His mother, the Queen Mother in Prussia and Frederick's godmother and heir presumptive, protective to the point of exclusion, who has never once climbed the ladder to the dome and sends cocoa up it instead. First in Chapter One.
Princess Charlotte called Charlotte Invented: His elder sister and sole Regent since 11 October 2028, a final-year medical student at the Charité who lives in her student flat and was passed over for his Crowns by a reform that ran only forwards. First in Chapter One.
Queen Christina called Aunt Christina Invented: Queen of Sweden, Frederick's mother and his Regent, Alexander's aunt by marriage, who read one page of the letters by accident and then chose to stop. First in the Prologue.
The Duke of Cumberland called Uncle Ernest Invented: Ernest V until 31 October 2028, his uncle, who walked with him in the Tiergarten in the rain after his father died and has since lost most of his words. First in the Prologue.

The households and the bag

Herr Schade called Herr Schade Invented: A large, grey, quiet man on the door of the house in the Neuer Garten on Sundays for six years, who once carried him up the dome's ladder on his shoulders and leaves the hatch open an inch. First in Chapter One.
Kessler called Kessler Invented: His protection officer in Berlin, who looks at ceilings, carries the letters to the Foreign Office for the bag, and says "Frohes neues Jahr, Majestät" at one second past midnight. First in Chapter Two.
The German Ambassador called the Ambassador Invented: Germany's ambassador in New Westminster, never named, who carries the letters in the bag for five months without opening one and is more frightened of Queen Caroline than of anybody. First in the Prologue.
Sergeant Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: Frederick's protection officer, who comes to Potsdam for Easter, stays at the edge of every room, and says one line in the whole book, at the airport. First in the Prologue.
Dr J. Nkolo called Dr Nkolo Invented: The Kamerun secretary in the imperial household since 2014, who carries the third drawer's papers in a green folder and witnesses its acts. First in Chapter Thirty-two.

Potsdam and the dome

Lukas Brandt called Lukas Invented: His schoolfriend from the Humboldt-Gymnasium, his Page and Gefährte, who sits on the observatory floor with his back against the mount and says one thing an evening, and saves one from March until the night of 2 May. First in the Prologue.
Frau Brandt called Frau Brandt Invented: Lukas's mother, who keeps a café in Potsdam with a coffee machine the loan was for, makes the coffee strong so that she knows who comes back, and cries at elections. First in Chapter Eight.
Lukas's brother called Lukas's brother Invented: Eleven, and building a raft out of café pallets to sail to Werder, to have built it. First in Chapter Thirty-one.

The Humboldt-Gymnasium

Amalie von Keller called Amalie Invented: His companion, a family friend since they were three and a pupil in the other Klasse 8, who reads about the Hanseatic League and declines to have a view. First in Chapter Two.
Jakub Nowak called Jakub Invented: His companion and classmate, Polish-German, whose laptop in the corner by the atlases shows him the Reichstag and, on 2 May, New Westminster. First in Chapter Two.
Frau Dr Seidel called Frau Dr Seidel Invented: His history teacher at the Humboldt-Gymnasium, twenty years at the school, who teaches the Kings in syllabus order regardless of who is sitting in the room. First in Chapter Two.

The flat on the fourth floor

Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: Frederick's friend, a bus driver's son from Milwaukee, who lays the schools' wreath at the Tomb, invites them to the flat under the rule of the table, and comes to Potsdam at Easter as a friend of the King's. First in the Prologue.
Anneliese Hartigan called Mrs Hartigan Invented: Theo's mother, a nurse, whose rule is that anybody eating at her table eats what is on it, and who says "Shoes" to an Emperor. First in the Prologue.
Peter Hartigan called Mr Hartigan Invented: Theo's father, who drives a city bus and does the crossword at dinner. First in the Prologue.
Kate Hartigan called Kate Invented: Theo's sister, who teaches the German Emperor Schafkopf by her own rules and does not let him win. First in the Prologue.

Prussia and Kamerun

Dr Johanna Falk called Falk Invented: The Social Democratic Minister-President of Prussia, dismissed in his name and restored by the court, who wins outright on 3 December and backs the amendments he never asked for, "because of what was done in your name". First in Chapter One.
Dr Matthias Brenner called the Chancellor Invented: The Imperial Chancellor, who speaks for twenty-two minutes in the Reichstag without once using his name. First in Chapter Twelve.

Book Eight · 2029

Santa Monica

Through Chapter Thirty, The Ninth Day

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

The family

George V called Frederick Invented: King of fourteen realms in his own right since 2 May, sixteen, on the sophomore class trip with his year under the name on his boarding pass, HANOVER F, who counts the steps on every staircase and is wrong by two. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine and Thirty.
Queen Christina called his mother Invented: The Queen of Sweden, no longer anybody's Regent, who signs the trip form on the line for a parent and tells him to go on the wheel. First in Chapter One.
Ernest, Duke of Cumberland called his father Invented: King until October, on the sixth floor of New Westminster General, who is read nineteen stations at nine in the morning and says one word back. First in Chapter Five.

The detail

Sergeant Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: His protection officer, who said it would be three of them and not more, drinks the worst coffee in California as a duty, and calls Theo Mr Hartigan. First in Chapter One.
Sergeant Ruth Kimura called Kimura Invented: Small and quiet, on the detail since February, who waits at the bottom of every rollercoaster with a bottle of water. First in Chapter One.
Sergeant Tom Brannigan called Brannigan Invented: Very large and very pink, in a University of Delaware sweatshirt, who is given the rollercoasters and goes on all of them. First in Chapter One.

The sophomores

Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: His friend and Page of Honour, on the trip as a classmate and not as Page, in a terrible eleven-pound hat, with a list. First in Chapter One.
Marcus called Marcus Invented: A trombonist, who is in the King's row and does not want his mother told, and steps into the yellow car without meaning to. First in Chapter One.
Priya called Priya Invented: Who photographs Kansas for her grandmother instead of the King, and eats the vinegar crisps nobody else will. First in Chapter One.
Felix called Felix Invented: Marcus's friend, who goes round first in the yellow car with him, waving at the sea. First in Chapter Six.
Lucía Paredes called Lucía Invented: From his history class, whose grandparents in Pomona she could not reach on 2 November, and who brings them to supper. First in Chapter Two.

The teachers

Mr Abernathy called Mr Abernathy Invented: His homeroom teacher, in the brown jacket, who counts them on and off everything and arranged the wheel by a telephone call he will not explain. First in Chapter One.
Mr Ferrante called Mr Ferrante Invented: The history teacher, Dan to Señora Ruiz, who does 1988 into a coach driver's microphone, brings back two coffees, and goes back across the sand for an old man. First in Chapter One.
Señora Ruiz called Señora Ruiz Invented: The Spanish teacher, Carmen to Mr Ferrante, who keeps fifty-eight permission slips and medical forms in a plastic folder, in case, and lets go of it once. First in Chapter One.

Los Angeles

Héctor Paredes called Mr Paredes Invented: Seventy-three, a motorman on the Pomona and San Bernardino line for thirty-one years, who takes the train to the sea for the first time and comes to supper in a tie with anchors on it. First in Chapter Four.
Yolanda Paredes called Mrs Paredes Invented: A school cook for twenty-six years, who cooked in her old kitchen for three weeks after November and says the King is too thin. First in Chapter Four.
Teresa Marchetti called the Governor Invented: Governor of California since August 2028, at Government House in Los Angeles, in an old emergency-service jacket with cracked stripes, who has been in a great many holes and never once been thin enough. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Esperanza Ruelas called Señora Ruelas Invented: Eighty-one, under her kitchen table on Twenty-Second Street, who got down because the King on the radio told her to, and says he is too thin. First in Chapter Nineteen.
Marisol called Marisol Invented: At the hotel desk, from San Bernardino, where the street behind hers is being built again on deeper foundations. First in Chapter Two.
Mrs Okada called Mrs Okada Invented: The housekeeper at Government House, who taped his photograph up where a portrait will go, lends her kitchen telephone for a minute each, and will keep the cutting in a drawer. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
Staff Sergeant Duarte called Duarte Invented: Of the Fourteenth Engineers from Fort Irwin, whose company got under its trucks at Oxnard, and who mends the water tank with an inner tube. First in Chapter Twenty-one.
Clare Kerridge called Miss Kerridge Invented: An assistant private secretary in the Prime Minister's office, who brings the paper in overnight on the aircraft that will take the class home, and has never carried one back with a chewed pen on it. First in Chapter Twenty-four.
Major Helen Voss called Major Voss Invented: The aircraft commander of the Air Force transport that flies the class home as Sceptre, who lets the crew draw cards for one sentence. First in Chapter Twenty-five.
Gabriela Soto called Airman Soto Invented: Airman First Class and loadmaster, nineteen, from Oxnard, who draws the king of hearts, whose father would not leave the dog, and who does the briefing in two rhymes. First in Chapter Twenty-five.

At home

Niamh called Niamh Invented: The nurse with the plait on the sixth floor of New Westminster General, who understands everything, finds the tower on the car radio, and hears the Duke laugh out loud. First in Chapter Sixteen.
Dame Margaret Roper called Dame M Invented: The Master of the Household, a retired Navy captain, who tells everybody the boxes will keep until Monday, and makes the note without opening the folder. First in Chapter One.
Bridget called Bridget Invented: Of the palace kitchen, longer there than he has been, who has had the leek and potato on since five, and says what everybody has said this week, and means it more. First in Chapter Twenty-eight.
Kate Hartigan called Kate Invented: Theo's sister, eighteen, who watched the wheel on television for nine hours, is coming next time to make sure, and is still owed a lizard. First in Chapter Fourteen.

Book Nine · 2029 to 2030

Junior Year

Through Chapter Thirty-six, The Roll

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

The family

George V called Frederick Invented: King of fourteen realms, sixteen, back in Mr Abernathy's homeroom for junior year with a coronation in November, who still wakes at six. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine, Thirty, Thirty-one, Thirty-two, Thirty-three, Thirty-four, Thirty-five and Thirty-six.
Queen Christina called his mother Invented: The Queen of Sweden, who keeps the school year in the north wing and says the important things in Swedish. First in Chapter One.
Ernest, Duke of Cumberland called his father Invented: King until October 2028, on the sixth floor of New Westminster General, who has begun to talk in short sentences and walks the corridor ten steps at a time. First in Chapter Two.
Alexander I called Alexander Invented: His cousin, German Emperor and King of Prussia, crowned by nobody at Königsberg on his sixteenth birthday, who asks to be told if he becomes one of them. First in Chapter Twelve.
Lukas Brandt called Lukas Invented: Alexander's Page, a yard behind him on the left, who says one thing an evening and would have said it more than once. First in Chapter Twelve.

The detail

Sergeant Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: His protection officer, who drives him to school and has coffee with him on Mondays at nine, and has not said so to anybody. First in Chapter One.
Sergeant Thomas Brannigan called Brannigan Invented: Of the Duke's detail, very large, who holds the George Cross and is taught by the Duke what to do with his hands. First in Chapter Twenty-two.

The juniors

Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: His friend and Page of Honour, taller over the summer, with eleven pounds in an envelope he will not spend and a bedroom to himself he does not want. First in Chapter One.
Inés Castañeda called Inés Invented: The first new name in the roll book in four years, from Ventura, living with her aunt in the capital since June, who did not hear the King on the radio and says so. First in Chapter One.
Lucía Paredes called Lucía Invented: Who spent the summer in Pomona and came back with lemons in her bag. First in Chapter One.

The teachers

Mr Abernathy called Mr Abernathy Invented: The homeroom teacher, with a white scar across the back of his left hand, who reads the roll at the same speed as always. First in Chapter One.
Mr Ferrante called Mr Ferrante Invented: The history teacher, without his stick now, who starts junior year at 1783. First in Chapter One.
Mrs Okonedo called Mrs Okonedo Invented: The chemistry teacher, who hands marks back face up, does not lower her voice, and gives eleven Thursday lunches to equilibria. First in Chapter Four.
Señora Carmen Ruiz called Señora Ruiz Invented: The Spanish teacher, who kept the record on a bluff and never knew she had been put on a list, and asks the King to dance after twenty-two proms. First in Chapter Five.

At home

Bridget called Bridget Invented: Of the palace kitchen, who has had his breakfast on the table at a quarter past seven since he was four. First in Chapter One.
Niamh called Niamh Invented: The nurse with the plait on the sixth floor, who times everything, including how far the Duke walks. First in Chapter Two.
Dame Margaret Roper called Dame M Invented: The Master of the Household, a retired Navy captain, who walks up four floors because the lift is for people who need it, and eats two slices of apple cake under a rule. First in Chapter Three.
Kate Hartigan called Kate Invented: Theo's sister, at nursing school on the river, home on Sundays with news of a rabbit called Professor, who is coming to London with or without a camera. First in Chapter Three.
Mr Bayliss called Mr Bayliss Invented: The physiotherapist on the sixth floor since June, in a navy tunic, who says five and is told no. First in Chapter Two.
Mr Paredes called Mr Paredes Invented: The motorman from Pomona, who rides the six-oh-two as a passenger on the anniversary and complains about the boy at Alhambra. First in Chapter Eight.

The state

Caleb Whitlock called Lord Whitlock Invented: The Prime Minister, twenty-seven, who walks the mile down the Axis every Thursday at a quarter to six looking into the windows, keeps it all in his head, and has had a plan of Westminster Abbey since 2023. First in Chapter Four.
Mr Hawes called Mr Hawes Invented: The robemaker from London, seventy, who carried pins in 1973 and lets the robe out a quarter of an inch too little on purpose. First in Chapter Six.
Canon Lyle called Canon Lyle Invented: The Archbishop's chaplain, who types a timetable of the coronation and finds a minute from 1974 about a window. First in Chapter Eleven.
Alistair Rennie called Rennie Invented: The Prime Minister of Great Britain, from Fife, twice nearly removed by his own party, who explains what a coronation is for and shouts in the north transept. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Sergeant Megan Tranter called Sergeant Tranter Invented: The Royal Air Force steward who kept a written record in the raft, stands under a window at the coronation, and asks to fly him home as Kittyhawk. First in Chapter Fifteen.

Book Ten · 2030 to 2031

Senior Year

Through Chapter Thirty-six, Monday

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

The family

George V called Frederick Invented: King of fourteen realms, seventeen and then eighteen, on exchange for his senior year in a valley in the Cotswolds, where he is called Fred and gets lost in the first week. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine, Thirty, Thirty-one, Thirty-two, Thirty-three, Thirty-four, Thirty-five and Thirty-six.
Queen Christina called his mother Invented: The Queen of Sweden, in London for the year, who runs the house and his father's care, comes to the village more than anyone expects, and loses at gin rummy. First in Chapter One.
Ernest, Duke of Cumberland called his father Invented: King until October 2028, in London for the year, who walks further every month, reads the arrivals at Paddington, and argues with a bus driver's son about trains. First in Chapter One.

The detail

Sergeant Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: His protection officer, in his last year, handing the edge of the room to Kimura a piece at a time. First in Chapter One.
Sergeant Ruth Kimura called Kimura Invented: Of the detail, younger, who finds the village very funny and grades everything out of ten. First in Chapter Two.

The seniors

Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: His friend and Page of Honour, who rooms with him, volunteers with St John Ambulance on Saturdays, and is the son of one of three bus drivers. First in Chapter One.
Inés Castañeda called Inés Invented: From Ventura, the honest friend, who guesses, says so, and is offered a place at Oxford. First in Chapter One.
Lucía Paredes called Lucía Invented: Who plays Puck and scores for the Coln Valley Ladies, and is the last person anybody tells anything. First in Chapter One.
Devon called Devon Invented: Of the class, who breaks up with Hattie Ellis every week and gets back together with her every week. First in Chapter Three.

The teachers

Mr Abernathy called Mr Abernathy Invented: The homeroom teacher, who leads the exchange in his last year of teaching, because his wife has waited forty years. First in Chapter One.
Mr Ferrante called Mr Ferrante Invented: The history teacher, who takes the English sixth form, finds a letter in Winchester, and finds his grandfather's house. First in Chapter One.
Señora Carmen Ruiz called Señora Ruiz Invented: The Spanish teacher, who flies over for the play, finds out about the Swedish, and asks forty-one questions. First in Chapter Twenty-two.
Mrs Okonedo called Mrs Okonedo Invented: The chemistry teacher at home, who writes a letter with no words in it and stands by seventy-three. First in Chapter Thirteen.

The English form

Will Ellis called Will Invented: His English partner, a sheep farmer's son who wants to be a vet, and his best friend by Christmas. First in Chapter Three.
Kit Barraclough called Kit Invented: Theo's partner, a scholarship boy from Leeds whose father also drives buses. First in Chapter Three.
Hattie Ellis called Hattie Invented: Will's sister, who plays Titania and wants to act. First in Chapter Thirteen.
Freya Lomax called Freya Invented: Head of girls in Evenlode, cleverer than Theo and says so. First in Chapter Sixteen.

Coln Abbey School

Dr Philippa Ord called Dr Ord Invented: The headmistress of Coln Abbey School, once an ambassador in Stockholm, who treats the King as a boy. First in Chapter Three.
Ms Sian Roberts called Ms Roberts Invented: The drama teacher, Welsh, twenty-six and terrifying, who casts the King as Bottom on purpose. First in Chapter Thirteen.

The village

Jack Fennell called Jack Invented: A boy from the village, loud and kind, who calls him Hanover, walks his great-grandmother's terrier, and teaches him to bowl, badly. First in Chapter Four.
Mick Fennell called Mick Invented: Jack's father, who drives the 860 to Cirencester and keeps a scrapbook of the King. First in Chapter Five.
Sue Fennell called Sue Fennell Invented: Jack's mother, the landlady of the New Inn. First in Chapter Eight.
Mrs Haverfield called Mrs Haverfield Invented: Ninety-nine, on the churchyard wall, who was asked the way to Bibury by Ernest IV in 1951 and notices everything. First in Chapter Four.
Mr Ellis called Mr Ellis Invented: Will and Hattie's father, a farmer, anxious at home and fearless at the crease. First in Chapter Eight.

In London

Dame Margaret Roper called Dame M Invented: The Master of the Household, in London for the year. First in Chapter Six.
Niamh called Niamh Invented: The Duke's nurse, who times his walks and has a florist. First in Chapter Six.

In the Realm

Bridget called Bridget Invented: The cook in the north wing kitchen at Columbia Palace, who keeps the papers and puts out the last cup. First in Chapter One.
Señora Esperanza Ruelas called Señora Ruelas Invented: Of Twenty-Second Street, Santa Monica, eighty-three, whose new house is yellow and who wants to know who. First in Chapter Thirteen.

The state

Caleb Whitlock called Lord Whitlock Invented: The Realm's Prime Minister, on video every week, too close to the camera, with a cat. First in Chapter Seven.
Alistair Rennie called Rennie Invented: The Prime Minister of Great Britain, from Fife, with a hopeless football club, who bowls for the English. First in Chapter Eleven.
Harold Quayle called Harold Quayle Invented: Of the New Westminster Evening Star, who writes a weekly column asking where the King is. First in Chapter Seven.

Book Eleven · 2031

Last Call

Through Chapter Eighteen, Last Call

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

Theo Hartigan Chapter Two, Chapter Five, Chapter Seven, Chapter Ten, Chapter Thirteen and Chapter Eighteen
Sergeant Ruth Kimura Chapter Four, Chapter Eight, Chapter Twelve and Chapter Seventeen
Jack Fennell Chapter Fifteen
George V the Prologue, Chapter One, Chapter Three, Chapter Six, Chapter Nine, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Fourteen and Chapter Sixteen

The five on the bus

George V called Frederick Invented: The King, eighteen, reigning in his own right since 2 May 2029, who has promised Theo the best eighteenth in history and has no ID. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapters One, Three, Six, Nine, Eleven, Fourteen and Sixteen, and of the Prologue.
Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: Eighteen today, a bus driver's son from Milwaukee and a Page of Honour, who knows how to ride a bus and is the only one of the five who does. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapters Two, Five, Seven, Ten, Thirteen and Eighteen.
Jack Fennell called Jack Invented: From Coln Saint Aldwyns, the landlady of the New Inn's son, nineteen, in the Realm on the August ticket, who calls the King Hanover and works out on the wrong bus what he wants to do. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapter Fifteen.
Alexander I called Alexander Invented: German Emperor in his own right, seventeen, flown in as Theo's birthday surprise, on lemonade all night, who asks a policeman the way for the first time in his life. First in the Prologue.
Lukas Brandt called Lukas Invented: Alexander's friend, Page and Gefährte, seventeen, who reads a bus map like a star chart, names the quiz team Facts Don't Count and never misses at cornhole. First in the Prologue.

The hunt

Sergeant Ruth Kimura called Kimura Invented: In charge of the King's detail, who finds an empty suite at twenty to eight, decides in nine seconds that nobody will ever hear of this night, and is a bar behind all of it. First in the Prologue. Voice of Chapters Four, Eight, Twelve and Seventeen.
Kessler called Kessler Invented: Alexander's protection officer, who is in on it, tells everybody the Emperor has gone to bed, follows in a dark car all night with its lights off, and says one word at dawn. First in Chapter Two.
Inspector Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: Off duty at his mother's in Tucson for the last fortnight of August, until Kimura rings at a quarter to eleven and he drives up in a car with a cracked windscreen. First in Chapter Eight.

The day in Phoenix

Superintendent Herrera called Herrera Invented: Superintendent of the North Gateway Water Treatment Works, who apologises for the heat as though it were a fault in the plant. First in Chapter One.
Carmen Herrera called Mrs Herrera Invented: The superintendent's wife, who sewed the plaque's curtain out of a dress because the city's came in green, and says it was the rail. First in Chapter Three.
Kate Gallego called the Lord Mayor: Lord Mayor of Phoenix, who speaks for nine minutes on water and brings the King and Theo cold water after the curtain sticks; the book's one exception to the rule that real living people stay offstage. First in Chapter One.
Esperanza Villalobos called the High Steward Invented: High Steward of Arizona, up from Tucson before dawn, the only person under the awning not fanning herself, who would have used a zip. First in Chapter One.
Jeff called Jeff: From the Salt River Project, beside Jack in the back row at the opening, who gives him August in proper degrees and is never going to forget Gloucestershire. First in Chapter One.
Bea called Bea Invented: The works canteen's cook, whose spare tres leches cake goes to Theo, and who understands why. First in Chapter One.
Ortiz called Ortiz Invented: A young engineer at the works, who explains flocculation and writes down what the King says about it. First in Chapter One.

People of the night

Rita called Rita Invented: About sixty, closing a pizza place in Ahwatukee, who drives the five north in her pickup and has written twice to the King about the data centre. First in Chapter Six.

Book Twelve · 2031 to 2032

Time, Gentlemen

Through Chapter Thirty-six, Time, Gentlemen

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

Eight Bars

George V called Frederick Invented: The King, eighteen and then nineteen, behind a bar for a year, and terrible at it. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three, Twenty-four, Twenty-five, Twenty-six, Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine, Thirty, Thirty-one, Thirty-two, Thirty-three, Thirty-four, Thirty-five and Thirty-six.
Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: His Page, who shares the flat upstairs, is just as terrible, and starts medical school in November. First in Chapter One.
Mrs Merriweather called Mrs Merriweather Invented: Marcus's mother, landlady of Eight Bars, fiercely proud, with a camera and a wall of disasters. First in Chapter One.
Marcus Merriweather called Marcus Invented: Her son, who played eight bars in lost property once, and plays jazz on Friday nights. First in Chapter Three.
Sergeant Ruth Kimura called Kimura Invented: Who leads the detail, and sits at the end of the bar every night drinking his mistakes. First in Chapter One.

The family

Ernest, Duke of Cumberland called his father Invented: Who comes on the Thirty-Two alone, pulls a better pint than his son, and captains the darts team. First in Chapter Three.
Queen Christina called his mother Invented: Queen of Sweden, who brings Swedish Christmas to a dive. First in Chapter Two.
Jack Fennell called Jack Invented: At the New Inn, who taught him to pull a pint and judges every one by video. First in Chapter Two.

The committee

Dame Margaret Roper called Dame M Invented: The Master of the Household, in the chair. First in Chapter Two.
Bridget called Bridget Invented: The cook, the only member who has ever worked a busy room. First in Chapter Three.
Inspector Ray Castellanos called Castellanos Invented: Who teaches at the training school, comes for coffee on Mondays, and becomes a regular against his own advice. First in Chapter Three.
Edmund Quennell called Mr Quennell Invented: The Household's newest graduate, who has never been in a bar, and drafts every rule. First in Chapter Three.

The regulars

Mr Abernathy called Mr Abernathy Invented: Retired, on his stool, marking every pint in red pen on a beer mat. First in Chapter Three.
Harold Quayle called Harold Quayle Invented: Retired from the Evening Star, a regular, who writes letters to the editor. First in Chapter Eleven.

Abroad

Alexander I called Alexander Invented: The German Emperor, his cousin, in Hanover in October and on a state visit in August. First in Chapter Five.
Lukas Brandt called Lukas Invented: Alexander's friend, barback to an Emperor. First in Chapter Five.
Alistair Rennie called Rennie Invented: The Prime Minister of Great Britain, from Fife, who converts the King to Scotch. First in Chapter Ten.

The state

Caleb Whitlock called Lord Whitlock Invented: The Realm's Prime Minister, who brings the cat, and plays darts for Parliament. First in Chapter Eleven.

A Companion Novel · 2028

Letters from Potsdam

Through Chapter Thirteen, Feierabend

The voices

Each chapter is told from one person's side. These are the voices so far.

Alexander I Chapter One and Chapter Three
George V Chapter Two and Chapter Four

The cousins

Alexander I called Alexander Invented: German Emperor and King of Prussia since his father died in February 2028, when he was fourteen; reserved in a room and, it turns out, not on paper; who keeps a small observatory at Potsdam and believes his sister should have the Crown. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters One and Three.
George V called Frederick Invented: His cousin, eight months older, at school in New Westminster under the name Frederick Hanover, who became King George V on 31 October 2028, at fifteen, with his mother as Regent, and signs his letters Frederick. First in Chapter One. Voice of Chapters Two and Four.

The two pages

Lukas Brandt called Lukas Invented: Alexander's schoolfriend, his Page and Gefährte, who sits on the observatory floor with his back against the mount and says one thing an evening. First in Chapter One.
Theo Hartigan called Theo Invented: Frederick's schoolfriend, a bus driver's son from Milwaukee, made a Page of Honour at the accession on condition that he still calls the King Freddie. First in Chapter One.

New characters are added as their chapters are published.