In London:
- Flora Poste : the heroine, a nineteen-year-old from London whose parents have recently died.
- Mary Smiling : a widow, Flora's friend in London.
- Charles Fairford : Flora's cousin in London, studying to become a parson.
In Howling, Sussex:
- Judith Starkadder : Flora's cousin, wife of Amos. She has an unhealthy passion for her own son Seth.
- Seth Starkadder : younger son of Amos and Judith. Handsome and over-sexed. Has a passion for the movies.
- Ada Doom : Judith's mother, a reclusive, miserly widow, owner of the farm, who constantly complains of having seen "something nasty in the woodshed" when she was a girl.
- Adam Lambsbreath : 90-year-old farm hand, obsessed with his cows and with Elfine.
- Mark Dolour : farm hand, father of Nancy .
- Amos Starkadder : Judith's husband, and hellfire preacher at the Church of the Quivering Brethren. ( "Ye're all damned!" )
- Amos's half-cousins: Micah , married to Susan; Urk , a bachelor who wants to marry Elfine and adores water-voles; Ezra , married to Jane; Caraway , married to Lettie; Harkaway .
- Amos's half-brothers: Luke , married to Prue; Mark , divorced from Susan and married to Phoebe.
- Reuben Starkadder : Amos's heir, jealous of anyone who stands between him and his inheritance of the farm.
- Meriam Beetle : hired girl, and mother of Seth's four children.
- Elfine : an intellectual, outdoor-loving girl of the Starkadder family, who is besotted with the local squire, Richard Hawk-Monitor of Hautcouture (pronounced "Howchiker") Hall.
- Mrs Beetle : cleaning lady, rather more sensible than the Starkadders.
- Mrs Murther : landlady of The Condemn'd Man public house.
- Mr Meyerburg (whom Flora thinks of as "Mr Mybug"): a writer who pursues Flora and insists that she only refuses him because she is sexually repressed. He is working on a thesis that the works of the Brontë sisters were written by their brother Branwell Brontë.
- Claud Hart-Harris : urbane friend of Flora's whom she summons to accompany her, Seth and Elfine to a ball.
- Mrs Hawk-Monitor : initially far from being gruntled at her son's choice of bride.
- Rennet : unwanted daughter of Susan and Mark
- Dr Müdel : psychoanalyst.
- Mr Neck : film producer.
And also:
- Graceless , Aimless , Feckless , and Pointless : the farm's cows, and Adam Lambsbreath's chief charge. Occasionally given to losing extremities.
- Viper : the horse, pulls the trap which is the farm's main transportation
- Big Business : the bull, spends most of his time inside the barn.
The interrelations of the characters are complex. The family tree below is an attempt to illustrate them as they stand at the end of the novel.
