The Best of Me: Booktrack Edition characters

Appears from the start

A quiet oil-rig worker who has kept apart from his violent family and almost everyone else since leaving his North Carolina hometown. After surviving an offshore accident, he returns to Oriental to settle the affairs of Tuck Hostetler, the older friend who once gave him refuge.

First appears in chapter 2

Dawson's high-school love, now married and raising a family. Tuck's death calls her back to Oriental, where she must meet Dawson again and confront feelings she has kept separate from her adult life.

Appears from the start

An irascible widowed mechanic who once sheltered the teenage Dawson and became his closest substitute for family. His final arrangements bring Dawson and Amanda together after decades apart.

First appears in chapter 2

Amanda's husband and the father of her children. His drinking has strained their marriage, although Amanda remains committed to the household they built and hopes he will change.

First appears in chapter 3

Amanda's mother, a socially conscious woman who opposed her daughter's youthful relationship with Dawson because of his family's reputation. Her judgments still shape Amanda's memories of that separation.

First appears in chapter 4

One of Dawson's dangerous relatives. He regards Dawson's independence as a betrayal of the Cole family and watches his return to Oriental with hostile intent.

First appears in chapter 4

Ted's brother and another member of the criminal Cole clan. He joins Ted in treating Dawson's return as an opportunity to settle an old grievance.

First appears in chapter 5

Amanda's teenage son, whose welfare is central to the choices she makes about her marriage and her renewed bond with Dawson.

First appears in chapter 19

The son of the local doctor whose accidental death changed Dawson's life. Alan has grown up under the shadow of that loss without knowing the full extent of Dawson's remorse.