Brat Farrar characters

Also known as Patrick Ashby

Appears from the start

A young English orphan recently returned from years abroad, especially skilled with horses and uncertain what to do next. His striking resemblance to the missing Patrick Ashby brings him an extraordinary proposal: learn Patrick's history, claim to be the presumed-dead heir, and take a share of the inheritance.

Appears from the start

An actor and distant acquaintance of the Ashby family who notices Brat's resemblance to Patrick. Knowing family details unavailable to the public, he devises the impersonation and coaches Brat in return for a promised part of the Ashby fortune.

Also known as Bee

First appears in chapter 4

The capable aunt who has raised the orphaned Ashby children and kept their horse-breeding home, Latchetts, functioning. Warm but observant, she wants the returned claimant to be Patrick while understanding how much is at stake.

First appears in chapter 4

Patrick's twin brother, who has grown up expecting to inherit the Ashby property after Patrick's apparent suicide. Charming and socially assured, he faces the loss of that future when Brat appears claiming to be the older twin.

First appears in chapter 4

The Ashby family solicitor, responsible for testing the identity and legal claim of the young man presented as Patrick. Cautious and professionally skeptical, he compares Brat's account with facts known to the family.

First appears in chapter 6

The eldest Ashby sister, serious, perceptive, and deeply attached to the horses and routines of Latchetts. She is unsettled by the claimant's arrival but gradually responds to Brat as an individual rather than merely as the brother he says he is.

First appears in chapter 6

One of the younger Ashby sisters, whose lively curiosity makes the supposed return of Patrick both a family drama and an exciting disruption to ordinary life at Latchetts.

First appears in chapter 6

One of the younger Ashby sisters. She has only childhood memories of Patrick and receives the returned claimant with fewer fixed expectations than the older members of the family.

First appears in chapter 7

A longtime worker in the Ashby stables whose memory of the family and practical knowledge of horses make him part of the life Brat must convincingly re-enter.