Still Alice characters

Appears from the start

A fifty-year-old Harvard professor whose research and teaching focus on language and cognition. Alice is accomplished, independent, physically active, and deeply invested in the intellectual life she has built. When familiar words and routes begin slipping away from her, she initially tries to explain the lapses as stress or menopause.

Appears from the start

Alice's husband, a successful Harvard scientist absorbed in his laboratory and career. He loves Alice but is accustomed to a marriage organized around two demanding academic lives, and at first has difficulty accepting that her lapses may be serious.

First appears in chapter 2

Alice and John's youngest daughter, who has rejected college for an acting career in Los Angeles. Her choice is a persistent source of conflict with Alice, who sees formal education as essential and worries that Lydia is limiting her future.

First appears in chapter 2

Alice's elder daughter, a lawyer living near her parents. Anna is married to Charlie and trying to have a child. She shares her mother's ambition and directness, though the two can clash over family decisions.

First appears in chapter 2

Alice and John's son, who is training to become a doctor. Tom approaches problems analytically and is part of the close but busy family Alice is determined to keep connected.

First appears in chapter 3

Anna's husband and a member of the Howlands' immediate family circle. He supports Anna as the couple pursue fertility treatment and confront the new uncertainty surrounding Alice's health.

First appears in chapter 4

A neurologist who evaluates Alice after her memory failures can no longer be dismissed. He orders cognitive testing and medical investigations, treating her concerns seriously while proceeding cautiously toward a diagnosis.

First appears in chapter 10

The chair of Alice's department at Harvard and a professional colleague who must address concerns about her teaching. His conversations with her make the effects of her illness on her academic role impossible to keep private.

First appears in chapter 5

Alice's deceased older sister, remembered as part of the family tragedy that shaped Alice's youth. Anne's history becomes newly significant when Alice and her doctors investigate whether the dementia in the family was hereditary.