The Woman in Black characters

Appears from the start

A London solicitor who frames the novel by refusing to join his family's Christmas ghost-story game. As a young man he is practical, ambitious, and impatient with superstition when his employer sends him north to settle the affairs of a reclusive client.

First appears in chapter 2

The senior solicitor who employs the young Arthur and assigns him to examine Mrs Drablow's papers at Eel Marsh House. His guarded manner suggests that the apparently routine estate business carries difficulties he does not wish to discuss.

First appears in chapter 3

A prosperous landowner whom Arthur meets on the train to Crythin Gifford. Friendly, direct, and rooted in the district, he takes an immediate interest in the young visitor and offers practical help should Arthur need it.

First appears in chapter 4

The elderly recluse whose death brings Arthur to Crythin Gifford. She lived alone at Eel Marsh House, an isolated property cut off from the mainland at high tide, and left a mass of private papers for the solicitors to sort.

First appears in chapter 4

A wasted, sickly-looking mourner dressed in black whom Arthur sees apart from the other attendees at Mrs Drablow's funeral. Her presence disturbs him, while the local people conspicuously avoid acknowledging her.

First appears in chapter 4

Mrs Drablow's taciturn driver, who takes Arthur over the Nine Lives Causeway to Eel Marsh House in a pony and trap. He understands the tides and the marshes and gives little away about either the house or local fears.

First appears in chapter 4

The local land agent in Crythin Gifford. Arthur asks him to help with the papers at Eel Marsh House, but the request leaves him visibly terrified and he refuses even when Arthur presses him for an explanation.

First appears in chapter 8

Samuel Daily's small, sturdy dog, lent to Arthur as company for another visit to the lonely house. Affectionate and alert, she gives him both reassurance and an immediate warning when something is wrong.

First appears in chapter 11

A young woman whose letters are among the papers at Eel Marsh House. Writing to her sister Alice Drablow, she is anguished by a family arrangement involving her son Nathaniel and determined not to be excluded from his life.