Iris Chase Griffen : The narrator and protagonist of the tale.
Laura Chase : Iris' sister, whose suicide opens the book and who is named as the author of the novel within.
Richard E. Griffen : Iris's ruthless, older husband with political ambitions.
Winifred Griffen Prior : Iris' fashionable, manipulative, and social-climbing sister-in-law.
Alex Thomas : A young author with Communist sympathies who has an affair with Iris and is one of the protagonists in the novel within.
Cpt. Norval Chase : The father of Iris and Laura. After being seriously injured in World War I and later widowed, he begrudgingly runs the family button business while descending into alcoholism and depression.
Reenie : The loyal Chase family housekeeper who becomes like a mother to Iris and Laura.
Myra Sturgess : Reenie's daughter, who later aids Iris in her old age.
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