The Fault in Our Stars characters

Appears from the start

The narrator, a sixteen-year-old girl living with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs, which forces her to carry a portable oxygen tank and breathe through a nasal cannula. Sharp, wry, and widely read, she is skeptical of the sentimental way people treat sick children and keeps most of the world at a careful distance. She is devoted to a single novel about a girl with cancer and is haunted by the way it ends. Aware that her illness makes her, in her own view, a kind of hazard to those who love her, she is reluctant to form close attachments, until she is pushed by her parents to attend a cancer support group.

Appears from the start

A charming, confident seventeen-year-old whom Hazel meets at the support group. A former basketball player, he lost part of one leg to osteosarcoma and now walks on a prosthetic, and he is in remission when they meet. Witty, grandly romantic, and fond of metaphor and big gestures, he is preoccupied with the fear of being forgotten and with living a life that leaves a mark. He is quickly captivated by Hazel and shares her love of books, drawing her out of her isolation with humor and relentless warmth.

Appears from the start

Augustus's best friend, a teenager with an eye cancer that has already cost him one eye and threatens the other. Facing surgery that will leave him completely blind, he is also anxious about his relationship with his girlfriend. Frank and often funny even in distress, he becomes a friend to Hazel as well, and his struggles with loss and heartbreak run alongside the central story.

Appears from the start

Hazel's devoted mother, who has organized her whole life around caring for her sick daughter. Constantly attentive and relentlessly positive, she worries over Hazel's isolation and pushes her toward the support group and toward living more fully. Beneath her cheerful, hovering presence lies a deep and constant fear for her child.

First appears in chapter 2

Hazel's loving father, a gentle, emotional man who is quick to tears and openly tender with his daughter. He supports Hazel and his wife through the strain of her illness and shares the family's mix of hope and dread.

First appears in chapter 5

The reclusive American author of the novel Hazel treasures, a book about a girl with cancer that stops mid-sentence and leaves the fate of its characters unresolved. Living abroad in seclusion, he is a mystery to Hazel, who longs to know what happens after the story breaks off. Contacted through his assistant, he proves difficult and evasive, and Hazel and Augustus become determined to get answers from him in person.

First appears in chapter 14

Peter Van Houten's assistant, a kind and conscientious woman who has arranged correspondence on his behalf. Warm and genuinely helpful, she is dismayed by her employer's behavior when Hazel and Augustus finally meet him, and she steps in to make amends and to show the young couple genuine hospitality.

Appears from the start

The earnest leader of the cancer support group Hazel attends, himself a cancer survivor who lost part of his body to the disease. He runs the meetings in a church basement with well-meaning enthusiasm, repeatedly telling his own story of survival and inviting the young members to share their fears.

First appears in chapter 7

Isaac's girlfriend, whose relationship with him is strained as his blindness approaches. Her choices become a source of pain for Isaac and prompt one of Augustus and Hazel's shared misadventures on his behalf.