White Nights characters

Appears from the start

A solitary young man in Saint Petersburg who calls himself a dreamer. He has spent years observing the city and imagining connections with strangers while forming almost no real friendships. His chance meeting with Nastenka interrupts that inward life and gives him someone to whom he can speak honestly.

Appears from the start

A seventeen-year-old woman whom the Dreamer meets crying beside a canal. Frank, impulsive, and closely supervised at home, she agrees to see him again on the condition that he will not fall in love with her.

First appears in chapter 3

Nastenka's blind grandmother and guardian. Fearful that the girl will behave recklessly, she keeps Nastenka beside her and once fastens their dresses together with a pin. She supports them by renting the upper floor of their house.

First appears in chapter 3

A young man who rents the room above Nastenka and her grandmother. He lends them books, takes them to the theatre, and becomes the focus of Nastenka's hopes before leaving Saint Petersburg for a year to establish himself.

Appears from the start

The Dreamer's elderly housekeeper, one of the few regular presences in his otherwise isolated domestic life.