Tilly Dunnage
Tilly Dunnage is the protagonist and the titular dressmaker in the novel. Her mother is Molly Dunnage and her father is Evan Pettyman, the Dungatar town councilor, who seduced Molly when she is young…
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Molly Dunnage
Molly Dunnage is Tilly Dunnage’s mother; she’s severely mentally ill. As a young woman, Molly was extremely innocent with men and easily taken in. She was seduced by Evan Pettyman, who claimed to…
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Teddy McSwiney
Teddy McSwiney is the eldest son of Edward and Mae McSwiney. Teddy is also Tilly’s love interest throughout the novel. Teddy is handsome, dashing, and practical—he is popular with the townspeople and he…
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Sergeant Farrat
Sergeant Farrat is Dungatar’s policeman who becomes close friends with Tilly and Molly. Sergeant Farrat is a mild-mannered and patient man. He tolerates the Dungatar residents—whom he finds spiteful and malicious—and enjoys his quiet…
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Evan Pettyman
Evan Pettyman is Dungatar’s town councilor and is an extremely wealthy and powerful man in the community. Evan is also Tilly’s father—he seduced her mother, Molly, when she was young but he refused…
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Gertrude Pratt
Gertrude Pratt is the daughter of Alvin and Muriel Pratt, who run Pratt’s General Store in Dungatar. Gertrude is an unattractive but vain and ambitious young woman. She decides to marry William Beaumont…
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William Beaumont
William Beaumont is Elsbeth and Bill Beaumont’s eldest son. William returns home from college and moves back in with Elsbeth and his sister, Mona. Elsbeth is delighted to have William home, but she…
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Marigold Pettyman
Marigold Pettyman Evan Pettyman’s wife and Stewart Pettyman’s mother. Marigold was swept off her feet by Evan as a young woman and is seemingly oblivious to the fact that Evan stole her inheritance…
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Stewart Pettyman
Stewart Pettyman is the son of Evan Pettyman and Marigold Pettyman and is therefore Tilly’s half-brother (unbeknownst to either child or to Marigold). Stewart is an obnoxious and spoiled boy who bullies and sexually…
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Irma Almanac
Irma Almanac is the wife of Dungatar’s chemist, Mr. Almanac. Irma is an elderly woman who’s crippled by painful arthritis and has lived a sad and downtrodden life. When Mr. Almanac was young, he…
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Mr. Almanac
Mr. Almanac is a vicious, spiteful man who runs the chemist’s shop in Dungatar. He is married to Irma Almanac. Mr. Almanac has Parkinson’s disease and is hunched and bent because of his condition…
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Elsbeth Beaumont
Elsbeth Beaumont is William Beaumont and Mona Beaumont’s mother and Bill Beaumont’s widow. Elsbeth is a snobbish woman who married her husband because she incorrectly believed he was rich. Elsbeth thinks she is…
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Mona Beaumont
Mona is William’s younger sister and is the daughter of Elsbeth and Bill Beaumont. Mona is an unattractive and unfortunate young woman who is bossed around and mistreated by Elsbeth and ignored by…
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Beula Harridene
Beula Harridene is a gossiping, vindictive, malicious woman. Beula’s surname “Harridene” symbolizes her malicious nature because it is close to the word “harridan”—a term for a vicious, spiteful woman. Beula goes out of her way…
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Una Pleasance
Una Pleasance is Elsbeth Beaumont’s cousin who works as a seamstress. Una is invited to Dungatar by Elsbeth, and she goes to stay with Marigold and Evan Pettyman after Teddy McSwiney’s death, which…
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Lesley Muncan
Lesley Muncan is a poor man with no connections or family. He meets William Beaumont in Melbourne—Lesley is working in the hotel kitchen where William, Gertrude, Elsbeth, and Mona go to stay. Lesley…
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Barney McSwiney
Barney is the disabled son of Edward and Mae McSwiney and is Teddy’s younger brother. Barney is physically deformed, and he also suffers from a learning disability. He is a gentle, vulnerable boy who’s…
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Edward McSwiney
Edward McSwiney is Mae McSwiney’s husband and the father of Teddy, Barney, and the nine other McSwiney children. Edward is a cheerful man who works as a delivery man in Dungatar and…
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Mae McSwiney
Mae McSwiney is Edward McSwiney’s wife and is the mother of 11 children, including Teddy and Barney. Mae is a kindly and practical woman who is gossiped about and treated like an outcast…
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Muriel Pratt
Muriel Pratt is Alvin Pratt’s wife and Gertrude Pratt’s mother. Muriel and her husband run Pratt’s General Store in Dungatar, and they’re wealthy because of this. Muriel is an unpretentious woman who likes…
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Alvin Pratt
Alvin Pratt is Muriel Pratt’s husband and Gertrude Pratt’s father. Alvin is somewhat two-faced: he is extremely pleasant to his customers, but he also keeps an extremely close eye on everything they owe…
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Nancy Pickett
Nancy is Lois Pickett’s daughter and Bobby Pickett’s younger sister. Nancy works as Mr. Almanac’s assistant in the chemist’s shop. She is a boyish and aggressive young woman and is secretly a…
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Lois Pickett
Lois Pickett is a local gossip and a friend of Beula Harridene. Lois has two children, Nancy and Bobby. Lois is an unpleasant and unhygienic woman who judges and attacks others for their…
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Bobby Pickett
Bobby Pickett is Lois Pickett’s eldest son and Nancy Pickett’s older brother. It is implied that Bobby has a learning disability—he was made fun of at school for being big and slow, and…
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Ruth Dimm
Ruth Dimm is a nosy woman who works in the Dungatar post office. She’s the sister of Prudence Dimm, the schoolteacher. Ruth is secretly a lesbian and is having an affair with Nancy Pickett…
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Prudence Dimm
Prudence Dimm is the teacher at Dungatar school and is Ruth Dimm’s sister. Prudence’s last name, Dimm, is pertinent because she short-sighted to the point of near-blindness—her sight is “dim.” Prudence is a gossip…
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Purl Bundle
Purl Bundle is married to Fred Bundle and runs the local pub and hotel with him. Purl is an attractive woman and takes pride in her looks. She does not worry that the other women…
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Faith O’Brien
Faith O’Brien is a beautiful young woman and the singer in the local band. She is married to Hamish O’Brien, who is also in the band and is having an affair with Reginald Blood…
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Hamish O’Brien
Hamish O’Brien is married to Faith O’Brien and he works at Dungatar train station. Hamish is oblivious to his wife’s infidelities and only cares about his beloved steam trains, which he laments are being gradually…
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Minor Characters
Frank
Frank is the district Inspector who is sent to stay with Sergeant Farrat after a series of mysterious deaths and accidents occur in Dungatar. Frank is a messy, uncouth, and arrogant man, and Sergeant Farrat dislikes having him around.
Ormond
Ormond was Tilly’s boyfriend whom she lived with in Paris before her return to Dungatar. Tilly and Ormond had a baby named Pablo, but Pablo died when he was seven months old. Ormond blamed Tilly for Pablo’s death—although Pablo died of natural causes—and left her shortly after.
Pablo
Pablo was Tilly and Ormond’s son who dies of natural causes when he was seven months old. Tilly has recurring dreams about Pablo during her time in Dungatar.
Bill Beaumont
Bill Beaumont is Elsbeth Beaumont’s husband and William and Mona Beaumont’s father who died before the novel begins. It is implied that Bill had an affair with Purl Bundle before he died.
Fred Bundle
Fred Bundle is married to Purl Bundle and runs the Dungatar pub and hotel. Fred was once an alcoholic but gave up drinking after he broke both his legs in an accident. He and Purl have a loving relationship.
Reginald Blood
Reginald Blood is Dungatar’s butcher and works in Pratt’s General Store. Reginald is having an affair with Faith O’Brien and is in a band with Faith, Hamish, and Bobby Pickett.
Mrs. Flynt
Mrs. Flynt is the head of the Ladies Society in Winyerp, a neighboring town and Dungatar’s rival.
Scotty Pullit
Scotty Pullit is a Dungatar resident who lives at the hotel and brews his own spirits on an illegal still.
Septimus Crescent
Septimus Crescent is a local man who believes that the earth is flat.
