Home characters

Appears from the start

A twenty-four-year-old Black veteran of the Korean War who is confined in a mental hospital at the novel's opening. Haunted by combat and by the deaths of his two closest friends, he feels estranged from the Georgia town where he grew up. A warning that his younger sister is in danger gives him a purpose strong enough to begin the journey south.

Also known as Cee

First appears in chapter 2

Frank's younger sister, born Ycidra in the cramped house of a resentful step-grandmother. Her difficult childhood has left her eager for affection and uncertain of her own worth. Frank remembers himself as her protector and remains intensely concerned for her safety.

First appears in chapter 2

Frank and Cee's step-grandmother in Lotus, Georgia. She resents the children who were added to her household and reserves her tenderness for her own belongings, making their early home a place of scarcity and humiliation.

First appears in chapter 2

Frank and Cee's father, who moves the family to Lotus after they are violently driven from their Texas home. Long hours of labor leave him little time or protection to offer his children.

First appears in chapter 3

Frank's former girlfriend in Seattle. She wants a settled life and takes pride in building a home, but Frank's drinking, nightmares, and emotional distance steadily exhaust her patience.

First appears in chapter 3

A minister in Seattle to whom Frank turns after escaping the hospital. He gives Frank clothes, food, a little money, and the practical contacts needed to travel through a country where a Black man cannot assume he will be safe or welcomed.

First appears in chapter 5

A man Frank meets during his journey east. Billy offers him temporary shelter in Chicago and explains some of the dangers facing Black travelers and families in the city.

First appears in chapter 6

Cee's employer, a white physician and amateur researcher whose impressive house and courteous manner initially seem to promise respectable work. His private medical interests and unquestioned power over his employees make the position dangerous.

First appears in chapter 6

Dr. Scott's Black housekeeper. More experienced than Cee and alert to the doctor's unsettling medical work, she quietly tries to warn the younger woman and later sends the urgent message that brings Frank south.

Also known as Prince

First appears in chapter 7

The man Cee marries as a teenager. Charming and attentive while courting her, he dislikes the name Ycidra and gives her the nickname Cee. He soon abandons the marriage and takes the couple's car, deepening her insecurity.

First appears in chapter 13

A respected elder among the women of Lotus. She and her neighbors take charge of Cee's care when formal medicine has harmed her, combining practical knowledge, patience, and firm instruction in self-respect.

First appears in chapter 14

One of Frank's closest childhood friends from Lotus and a fellow soldier in Korea. His death remains central to Frank's grief and to the survivor's burden Frank carries home.