Eye of the Needle characters

Also known as Die Nadel, The Needle

Appears from the start

A deeply embedded German intelligence agent operating alone in wartime Britain. Patient, observant, and skilled at radio work and disguise, he is known to his handlers by a name referring to the slim blade he carries. His loyalty is entirely to his mission, and he treats anyone who uncovers him as an immediate threat.

First appears in chapter 5

A historian brought into British counter-intelligence because his academic knowledge and analytical patience suit a difficult hunt. He studies the traces left by an elusive German agent and works to identify the pattern connecting several deaths and intelligence failures.

Also known as Fred Bloggs

First appears in chapter 5

A former police detective working with Godliman in counter-intelligence. Direct and persistent, he supplies investigative experience to the search for the German agent and follows the human trail behind the intercepted signals and killings.

First appears in chapter 7

A young woman whose marriage begins under the shadow of a catastrophic accident. Years later she lives in isolation with her husband and child on a small island off the Scottish coast, maintaining the household while enduring David's bitterness and emotional withdrawal.

First appears in chapter 7

Lucy's husband, once an ambitious trainee pilot. An accident on their wedding day costs him both legs and ends his hope of flying in the war. On the island he manages a farm from his wheelchair but has become proud, angry, and distant from his wife.

Also known as Jo

First appears in chapter 10

The young son of Lucy and David Rose. He lives with his parents on their isolated island and gives Lucy a source of affection and purpose amid the strain of the marriage.

First appears in chapter 24

An elderly shepherd who also lives on the island with the Rose family. His familiarity with the land and its few inhabitants makes him an important part of the small community when a stranger is washed ashore.

Appears from the start

A London woman who rents a room to Faber during the early war years. Her growing interest in her quiet lodger brings her dangerously close to discovering the radio and secret work concealed behind his ordinary appearance.

First appears in chapter 12

The head of German military intelligence and the distant authority behind Faber's assignment. He values the agent's independence and waits for evidence that can settle where the Allied invasion will fall.