Meet the Cast
Violet Markey
According to Theodore Finch, "There is more to [Violet] than meets the eye" (6.64). A former cheerleader who runs around school picking locks, she's a walking paradox: a student who doesn't work, a...
Theodore Finch
According to Violet, Finch is "a Bartlett legend" (2.47). "Everyone knows of him," she tells us. (Can you hear the awe in her voice?) Some people hate him because he's weird and he gets into fights...
Mr. Finch
What to say about Mr. Finch? Well, um, he's…the absolute worst. We know he's physically abused his wife and Finch for more than seven years. To add insult to (literal) injury, he left them to sta...
Mrs. Finch
Finch's mom is divorced, works two jobs, and drinks a lot of wine. She's a negligent parent, partly because she's wrapped up in her own problems, and partly because Finch tries to keep his problems...
Mr. and Mrs. Markey
Violet's parents are textbook models of good parenting, maybe to a fault:They are strong and brave and caring, and even though I know they must cry and get angry and maybe even throw things when th...
Eleanor Markey
We never get to "meet" Eleanor, who died in a car accident the year before the events described in the book. We know that she and her sister Violet were super close—so close they ran a popular we...
Violet's Friends
Amanda Monk is Violet's friend from her cheerleading days. Since Eleanor's death, they've grown apart. Violet's not into cheering these days, and Amanda is cheery as ever—or so it seems. Toward t...
Finch's Friends
Finch has two close pals: Brenda Shank-Kravitz and Charlie Donahue. Brenda, his fashion consultant, is fiercely protective of Finch. She tells Violet, "If you break his heart, I will kick that skin...
Kate Finch
Finch's eighteen-year-old sister is a caretaker of sorts. She's in charge of the cooking, making a batch of casseroles at the start of each week. Finch tells us:Kate offered to stay home [from coll...
Decca Finch
We don't hear much from Finch's little sister, who's only eight, but we know she's a troubled little girl. (Sadly, that seems to run in the family.) How can we tell? Well, she gets in trouble at sc...
Josh Raymond Finch
Josh Raymond is Finch's seven-year-old stepbrother. (Well, technically he may be his half-brother; Finch isn't sure how long his father was cheating on his mom before he moved out.) Josh Raymond ha...
Mr. Embry
Mr. Embry is Finch's guidance counselor. He seems to genuinely care about Finch's wellbeing, but he's super ineffective. (That's partially Finch's fault, because he deletes Mr. Embry's voicemails t...