The Moon Is Down characters

Appears from the start

The elected mayor of a small occupied town. He is informal and somewhat absent-minded in manner, but he understands that his authority comes from the townspeople rather than from force. When the invaders ask him to make the community cooperate, he refuses to promise what free people will do.

Appears from the start

The occupying battalion's commander, a veteran soldier who has seen conquered civilians turn against their occupiers before. Courteous and controlled, he wants the town's coal extracted with as little disorder as possible, yet recognizes that military power cannot manufacture consent.

Appears from the start

The town physician and Mayor Orden's old friend and adviser. Calm, reflective, and attentive to history, he helps the mayor understand the occupation as part of a larger pattern of conquest and resistance.

Appears from the start

Mayor Orden's wife. She preserves the habits and dignity of their household after it becomes the occupiers' headquarters and shares her husband's refusal to treat the new rulers as legitimate guests.

Appears from the start

The mayor's formidable cook. Fiercely protective of the household, she resents the soldiers filling her kitchen and makes her hostility plain even when the town's officials must remain outwardly restrained.

Appears from the start

A local storekeeper whose advance work helped the invading force seize the town quickly. He expects his collaboration to bring him status, although both the townspeople and the officers distrust him.

Appears from the start

A young officer in the occupying force. He is romantic, lonely, and poorly prepared for the hatred directed at the soldiers, imagining that ordinary friendliness might still be possible between occupier and occupied.

Appears from the start

An ambitious young officer who embraces military doctrine and the promise of advancement. He treats the occupation chiefly as an administrative and technical problem.

First appears in chapter 2

A miner who reacts violently when soldiers attempt to compel him to work. His prosecution becomes the first direct test of whether Mayor Orden will lend civic authority to the occupation.

First appears in chapter 3

Alex Morden's wife. Newly isolated by the occupation's punishment of her husband, she receives sympathetic attention from Lieutenant Tonder but remains aligned with her town rather than with the lonely officer.

First appears in chapter 4

One of two local brothers willing to carry information and requests beyond the occupied community. Their escape gives the resistance a possible link to forces outside the town.