The Luminaries Characters

The Luminaries is truly the sum of many parts/stories/characters, and Walter Moody is at the heart of it…and yet, at the same time, totally secondary. Wait, how can that be? Well, the thing is, o...

When the book opens, we soon find out that Anna Wetherell is pretty well known around Hokitika…well, maybe notorious would be a better word? She and the missing Emery Staines alternate as the cen...

Lydia Wells is the book's resident vixen. Anna may be the most beloved and sought-after prostitute in Hokitika, but Lydia is a madam (and, not so coincidentally, the person who got Anna into hookin...

Francis Carver is the big bad in this novel, and all the nasty stuff that happens to the main characters can pretty much be traced back to him. In fact, he's even associated with some of the accide...

Sook Yongsheng is a local hatter—which, as Anna helpfully explains at one point, is a digger who digs alone. He gets a lot more attention among the characters and in the plot for his role as the...

Alistair Lauderback is a London-born lawyer who came to New Zealand in 1851 to make his fortune. As he himself would be the first to tell you, he's a very big deal—rich, powerful, confident, and...

Crosbie is the dude whose murder gets everyone so interested in the giant web of strange occurrences and deceits that are going on in Hokitika. Since he's in the ground, he's associated with "Terra...

Te Rau is an exquisite carver (with a particular fondness for pounamu, a local green stone that he prizes more than gold) and was a great friend of the late Crosbie Wells. He is also part of counci...

24-year-old Charlie Frost is the banker who handles the sale of Crosbie Wells's estate—and, as such, ends up involved in all the mysteries and shenanigans that follow his death. Unlike a lot of t...

Ben Löwenthal is the editor of the West Coast Times, the local paper in Hokitika, and associated with the astrological sign Gemini. He is part of council of twelve men who meet at the Crown the ni...

Edgar Clinch is the hotelier with whom Anna first lives when she comes to Hokitika. He also made (metaphorical) headlines in town for purchasing Crosbie Wells's land almost immediately after his de...

Mannering is originally from Sussex, England, and is associated with the forceful zodiac sign of Leo. He is part of the council of twelve men who meet at the Crown the night the book opens.Dick is...

Quee Long is a Kaniere goldsmith associated with the zodiac sign Virgo. He is part of the council of twelve men who meet at the Crown the night the book opens.He ends up causing a lot of trouble/co...

Harald Nilssen is a commission merchant who was originally from Norway (and who, as a result, has a faint accent). He is associated with the zodiac sign of Libra, and he is part of the council of t...

Joseph Pritchard is the local chemist in Hokitika, and he's associated with the sign of Scorpio. He is part of the group of twelve that meet at the Crown on the night the book opens. He buys his op...

Thomas Balfour is a shipping agent, which means he ends up being pretty important to a lot of the shenanigans involving cargo and ships in the novel. He's associated with the sign of Sagittarius, a...

Gascoigne works in the courthouse as the justice's clerk. He is associated with the sign of Capricorn, and he is present at the Crown Council on the night the book opens. Gascoigne was a recent arr...

Cowell Devlin is an Irish Methodist minister who comes to work for the prison in Hokitika. Despite the fact that you might expect him to get judgmental about things like Anna's prostitution and att...

George Shepard is associated with the planet Saturn, which is the "taskmaster" of the Zodiac and the "Planet of Karma," both of which seem apt given George's character. His related influence is "Re...

Emery Staines begins the novel associated with the moon and ends up as the sun (which is when Anna takes over as the moon). As you already know from reading Anna's character summary, the character...

Margaret helps Sook out more than once—first in Sydney, when he's falsely accused of murdering her husband, and then later, in Hokitika, when he's hiding in anticipation of killing Frank Carver....

Adrian is Walter's father. Walter tells the men in the Crown smoking room (and us) about his dad when he's explaining how he ended up in New Zealand. It seems that, back in the motherland, Adrian h...

AlbertHe's Nilssen's clerk. He helps bring messages back and forth between Nilssen and Pritchard.Augustus and JockThey are Lauderback's manservants.Dr. GilliesHe's the local doctor, and he gets cal...