Meet the Cast
Tilly Pruitt
It might sound like a cliché, but Tilly is the glue that holds this entire narrative—and indeed, the Pruitt/Hutchings family—together. Sounds like the perfect job for a narrator, yes? Yeah, we...
Delphine Duval
Make-Over ArtistOkay, so Tilly is the narrator, right? But from the moment Delphine steps off the steamboat in Grand Tower, all eyes, including the reader's, are on her, so there's a strong argumen...
Noah Pruitt
Noah is notable for three things—being Tilly's twin brother, Delphine's love interest, and super eager to go to war. And because of this, he provides the motivation for Tilly and Delphine's journ...
Cass Pruitt
Cass is Noah and Tilly's 12-year-old sister who is gifted (or cursed, depending on how you see it) with prophecy. Her name may be an allusion to mythology's Cassandra, a woman who could see the fut...
CoinCoin "Calinda" Duval
It's not stretching the truth to say that Calinda is the most mysterious character in the book. While she and Delphine both conceal their identities, Delphine talks so much that we find out a great...
Mama Pruitt
It's almost like we're dealing with two different characters here. We have pre-Noah's departure Mama and post-Noah's departure Mama. The first Mama has it going on—she cares for her children well...
Dr. William Hutchings, Sr.
If there's a character who says less than Noah, it has to be Dr. Hutchings, Grand Tower's doctor, and later, Tilly's husband. He's a perfect picture of a good doctor, with a strong sense of persona...
The Hutchings Family
Howard Leland HutchingsWhile Howard narrates the frame story, we can't really call him a main character. Rather, he's there to receive the story from Grandma Tilly, providing her with an audience f...
Minor Characters
Aunt Madge BledsoeAs far as we can tell, Aunt Madge Bledsoe is nobody's real aunt, or at least, nobody's in this story. She's just an old lady who lives in Grand Tower.Boys DrillingThe lists of boy...