Canada characters

Appears from the start

The narrator, looking back from late adulthood on the summer of 1960, when he was fifteen. Dell is thoughtful, solitary, and drawn to chess and beekeeping. He hopes for an orderly life even as his parents' choices destroy the family's ordinary existence in Great Falls, Montana.

Appears from the start

Dell's twin sister. Berner is sharper-edged and more openly dissatisfied than her brother, and she recognizes sooner that their parents cannot provide the future either child needs. She responds to the family's isolation by planning an escape of her own.

Also known as Bev

Appears from the start

Dell and Berner's father, a former Air Force officer whose charm and optimism conceal poor judgment. After leaving the service, he drifts through unsuccessful sales work and dubious schemes, then convinces himself that one criminal act can repair the damage.

Appears from the start

Dell and Berner's mother, an educated woman whose reserve and intellectual interests set her apart in Great Falls. Her marriage has narrowed the life she expected to have. Although she understands the danger in her husband's plan, she joins him rather than abandon the family.

First appears in chapter 31

A friend of Neeva's who arrives after the Parsons parents are jailed. Practical and discreet, she offers Dell a way to avoid being taken into state care by carrying out an arrangement his mother made in advance.

First appears in chapter 38

Mildred's brother, an American living in Saskatchewan. He owns a small hotel and presents himself as an educated, self-contained businessman willing to shelter Dell. His composure and cultivated manner make his more troubling qualities difficult for the boy to read.

First appears in chapter 40

A Métis man who works for Arthur Remlinger and becomes Dell's most frequent companion in the Canadian town. Charley is observant, sardonic, and familiar with both Remlinger's habits and the harsh local work Dell is expected to do.

First appears in chapter 43

A woman close to Arthur Remlinger who treats Dell with more direct concern than most of the adults around him. Her attention offers the isolated boy a rare sense that someone in the Canadian town notices his vulnerability.

First appears in chapter 26

Berner's older boyfriend in Great Falls. To Dell he represents his sister's growing independence and the possibility that she may leave before the authorities decide what will happen to the twins.

First appears in chapter 8

Dell's school friend in Great Falls, one of the few connections he has made in a town where the Parsons family never feels settled. Their plans for the summer belong to the ordinary life Dell expects before the robbery intervenes.