Verity characters

Appears from the start

A struggling writer whose career has stalled while she cares for her dying mother. After witnessing a fatal street accident on her way to a meeting, she is offered the chance to finish a bestselling series for its incapacitated author. Financial pressure and curiosity draw her into the assignment and into the author's family home.

Appears from the start

Verity Crawford's husband, who represents his injured wife's interests at the publishing meeting where Lowen is considered as her replacement. Grieving two children and caring for Verity and their surviving son, he is direct, attentive, and eager to preserve the successful series.

First appears in chapter 2

A celebrated novelist whose injuries have left her apparently unable to speak, walk, or complete her popular book series. She lives at home under Jeremy's care while Lowen searches her office for outlines and notes that might make finishing the books possible.

Appears from the start

Lowen's literary agent and former boyfriend. He brings her to the meeting about completing Verity's series and urges her to accept the unusually lucrative opportunity despite her reservations about writing in another author's place.

First appears in chapter 3

Jeremy and Verity's young son, the only one of their three children still living at home. He is friendly toward Lowen and accustomed to the quiet, strained routines surrounding his mother's condition.

First appears in chapter 5

One of Jeremy and Verity's twin daughters, introduced through family history and the private manuscript Lowen finds in Verity's office. She and her sister were central to the Crawfords' life before the losses that now shadow the household.

First appears in chapter 5

One of Jeremy and Verity's twin daughters, encountered by Lowen in photographs, family memories, and Verity's private account of her marriage and motherhood. The circumstances of the girls' deaths are among the subjects Lowen begins trying to understand.

First appears in chapter 7

A nurse who helps care for Verity at the Crawford house. Her visits provide professional oversight of a patient who seems almost entirely unresponsive and briefly interrupt the family's otherwise private routine.