Ballet Shoes (novel) - Characters

Characters

• Gum Great-Uncle Matthew Brown, an elderly geologist and Professor, who finds the three sisters during his travels.
• Sylvia Brown Gum's great-niece, known to the girls as "Garnie", short for Guardian. Garnie is a very caring woman.
• Nana Alice Gutheridge, Sylvia's nanny and later guardian after Sylvia was orphaned as a child. Called "Nana" by family and friends alike.
• Pauline Fossil The eldest sister by two years, rescued from the Titanic shipwreck. A talented actress and a great beauty, with an independent, bumptious streak.
• Petrova Fossil The middle sister, adopted from a young couple who died in Russia. Petrova is a tomboy, hardworking and diligent, but interested only in engines and aeroplanes and motor-cars.
• Posy Fossil The youngest sister by two years, whom Gum sends to the house by district messenger in a basket with a pair of ballet shoes. Her mother, a dancer, may well be alive, as it is said she 'has no time for babies' at the time of Posy's adoption. Posy is considered a child dance prodigy, though she was still too young to perform on stage at the book's conclusion.
• Dr. Jakes and Dr. Smith Boarders. A pair of retired professors of literature and maths, respectively, who offer to teach the girls. Dr. Jakes first inspires the girls to think of their adoptive state as being full of potential and individuality, without any chance of their achievements being attributed to family connections.
• Mr. and Mrs. Simpson Boarders. Mr. Simpson is particularly friendly with Petrova, on account of his Citroën car and auto-repair garage. In the 2007 film adaptation Mrs. Simpson's character was abandoned so that Mr. Simpson could serve as a love interest for Sylvia.
• Miss Thea Dane The last boarder. A dance teacher at the Children's Academy of Classical Ballet.
• Madame Fidolia A retired Russian prima ballerina of the old Russian empire. Now head of the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. Posy's teacher and mentor.
• Winifred A fellow student at the Children's Academy. Though considered the best all-round pupil at the Academy, she often loses major roles on account of her plain looks and inadequate clothing, the latter a result of her large family's poverty. Winifred is both a particular friend and rival of Pauline.