Half Broke Horses Characters

Lily and Jim’s second child, born a year and a half after Rosemary at a modern hospital. He is big like his father and grows up to play football at Arizona State. He drops out of college when he meets his wife, and he becomes a police officer.

A white man who was kidnapped by Native Americans as a boy and then rescued by Robert Casey. He has lived with the Caseys ever since and gets along well with Dad because both feel like outsiders.

The Casey family servant from Mexico, who was disowned by her family after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The family kept the baby. Lily says Lupe is even more Catholic than Mom. Lily admires that Lupe never complains about her lot in life, no matter how difficult things become.

Lily’s grandfather and Dad’s father, who was shot and killed allegedly over an eight-dollar debt.

The “humorless” priest at the Red Lake Catholic Church that Lily and Helen briefly attend. Upon discovering that Helen is pregnant, he forces her to make a full confession, and says the only place she can go is a home for “wayward” women.

An experienced midwife who helps Lily give birth to her first child, Rosemary, and gives her a “mind-over-matter” method to get through the pain. She also tells fortunes, and says the baby will be a “wanderer.”

A Chinese man in Ash Fork who hides cases of bootleg alcohol at Lily and Jim’s home when revenuers are onto him. He later agrees to provide Lily with two cases to sell per month, provided that they split the profits.

Along with his brother, Blackie owns a flock of sheep that Jim helps save after the ewes are separated from their lambs. Blackie later sells his ranch to English investors and, when they are looking for someone to manage it, recommends Jim for the job.

The only remaining hand at the Camel brothers’ ranch, who greets Lily and Jim upon their arrival and helps around the property until he is fired by Gaiter.

A deputy in the town of Peach Springs who gets Lily fired after she spanks his son Johnny.

Deputy Johnson’s son, who kisses Rosemary and later sticks his hand up a Mexican girl’s dress. Lily slaps him for this. When he hits her back, she begins to beat him to teach him a lesson about mistreating girls.

A senior official in the Arizona Department of Education who asks Lily to connect her with the Havasupai tribe so that she may evaluate their living conditions and hygiene standards. After the visit, she threatens to report Fidel Hanna for indecency when he is caught swimming with Rosemary.

The nurse who accompanies Clarice Pearl on her tour of the Havasupai reservation.

A rodeo cowboy who accompanies Gaiters and is meant to help manage the ranch. Lily can tell that he doesn’t know what he is doing.

A grocer in the town of Toyah who buys eggs from Lily for one cent and sells them for two. Dad thinks this teaches Lily lessons about negotiating and math.

A friend of Rex’s from the air force whom Lily meets on the way to go flying with Rex.

A woman who works at Jim’s office in Phoenix. Lily wrongly suspects that the two are having an affair, and has Rosemary tail Jim to discover the truth.

The pilot who gives Lily her first flying lesson and, much to her annoyance, calls her “little lady.”

Rosemary and Rex’s daughter and the author of the story. She appears in the epilogue as a baby. Lily senses an immediate connection with her granddaughter and calls her “a tenacious thing.”