Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures characters

Appears from the start

A ten-year-old devoted to superhero comics and to the survival advice in a series called Terrible Things Can Happen to You! Since her parents' divorce, Flora has adopted cynicism as a defense against disappointment. She acts quickly when a neighbor's vacuum cleaner swallows a squirrel, reviving him and recognizing his strange new abilities before anyone else does.

First appears in chapter 2

A squirrel caught in the powerful Ulysses 2000X vacuum cleaner. After Flora rescues him, he wakes with unusual strength, an understanding of human speech, and an intense awareness of beauty, hunger, and affection. Flora names him for the machine that transformed him.

First appears in chapter 3

Flora's mother, a successful writer of romance novels who works at a large typewriter and wants her daughter to spend less time reading comics. She can be theatrical and distracted, and her prized lamp, shaped like a shepherdess named Mary Ann, has become a focus of Flora's jealousy.

Appears from the start

Flora's neighbor and the eager owner of a new Ulysses 2000X vacuum cleaner. Tootie accidentally runs the machine into a squirrel, then accepts Flora's extraordinary explanation of what happened with much less resistance than most adults would show.

First appears in chapter 13

Flora's father, who lives in an apartment after the divorce and introduces himself formally even to people he knows. A gentle, lonely man, he visits Flora regularly and is willing to listen when she tells him that Ulysses may be a superhero.

First appears in chapter 15

Tootie's great-nephew, an intelligent, formal boy who says he is temporarily blind. He navigates with caution and likes to explain the world through precise words, though his composure does not make him easy for Flora to understand.

First appears in chapter 30

George's neighbor, an elderly woman born in a village in Russia. She welcomes Flora, William, and Ulysses into her apartment, listens without ridicule, and offers food and calm observations about love, loss, and unlikely events.

First appears in chapter 3

The Buckmans' large lamp in the shape of a shepherdess. Although she is an object rather than a living member of the family, Flora treats Mary Ann as a rival because Phyllis values and praises the lamp so openly.

First appears in chapter 31

Dr. Meescham's enormous cat, whose hostility toward Flora and Ulysses makes entering the apartment hazardous. He is quick, territorial, and much more alarming to a squirrel than his domestic surroundings suggest.

First appears in chapter 25

A waitress at the Giant Do-Nut who encounters Flora's unusual group during breakfast. Her alarm at seeing a squirrel inside the restaurant contributes to a chaotic demonstration that Ulysses is no ordinary animal.