Normal People characters

Appears from the start

A popular, academically gifted student in Carricklea whose mother cleans the Sheridan family home. Connell is considerate in private but intensely conscious of how others see him, and his difficulty saying what he wants shapes his secret relationship with Marianne.

Appears from the start

Connell's outspoken classmate and the daughter of the wealthy family that employs his mother. Marianne is isolated and mocked at school, yet she is intellectually confident and refuses to seek approval from her classmates. With Connell she reveals a more vulnerable need for intimacy and recognition.

Appears from the start

Connell's mother, who works as a cleaner for Marianne's family. Lorraine had Connell when she was young and has raised him alone. Warm, direct, and morally clear, she cares for Marianne and challenges Connell when fear of his peers leads him to treat her badly.

Appears from the start

Marianne's widowed mother, a solicitor. Denise is emotionally distant and presides over a wealthy home in which hostility toward Marianne is treated as normal.

Appears from the start

Marianne's older brother. Alan is contemptuous and intimidating toward her at home, reinforcing her belief that mistreatment is something she should expect from people close to her.

First appears in chapter 2

One of Connell's school friends and part of the socially dominant group from which Marianne is excluded. Rachel's approval matters to Connell because she represents the public life he is afraid to disrupt.

First appears in chapter 2

A school friend of Connell's whose casual participation in the group's treatment of Marianne later becomes part of Connell's painful reassessment of his adolescence.

First appears in chapter 7

Marianne's boyfriend during her first year at Trinity College. Gareth is confident, politically active, and well connected in the social world where Marianne has unexpectedly become popular.

First appears in chapter 7

Connell's friendly college roommate. Niall helps him enter Trinity's unfamiliar social life and treats him with an ease that contrasts with Connell's persistent sense that wealthier students understand rules he does not.

First appears in chapter 7

Marianne's close friend at Trinity. Joanna is observant, independent, and less interested than the rest of their circle in status or performance, becoming one of Marianne's steadier relationships.

First appears in chapter 8

A wealthy member of Marianne's college circle who combines apparent sophistication with an appetite for other people's private lives. Peggy encourages boundary-crossing while presenting it as openness.

First appears in chapter 10

A wealthy and controlling man from Marianne's Trinity social group who becomes her boyfriend. His confidence and social standing conceal a pattern of treating intimacy as a means of power.

First appears in chapter 12

Connell's warm and socially assured girlfriend at Trinity. Helen offers him a stable relationship and helps him feel more at ease among other people, although parts of his emotional life remain difficult for him to express.

First appears in chapter 14

A photographer Marianne meets while studying abroad in Sweden. Lukas is attentive and interested in using her as a model, offering companionship during a period when she feels detached from her life in Ireland.