The Withered Arm characters

Appears from the start

A solitary dairywoman who works on Farmer Lodge's land and lives with their illegitimate son. Lodge's impending marriage revives her resentment and her anxious curiosity about the young bride who will take the place Rhoda never held.

Appears from the start

The prosperous owner of the dairy farm where Rhoda works and the father of her twelve-year-old son. He has long kept his distance from them and is returning to the district with a new wife.

Also known as Rhoda's son

Appears from the start

The twelve-year-old son of Rhoda Brook and Farmer Lodge. He lives with his mother in poverty, runs errands for her, and observes the father who does not publicly acknowledge him.

Also known as Mrs Lodge

First appears in chapter 2

Farmer Lodge's young wife, a fair and apparently gentle newcomer to the district. Rhoda's son observes her arrival and reports back to his mother, whose curiosity about the bride has become intense.

Also known as Conjuror Trendle

First appears in chapter 5

A laborer living away from the village who is reputed to diagnose unnatural afflictions, though he does not present himself as a professional healer. Gertrude consults him in secret about her damaged arm.