Shell Shaker - Characters - 20th Century

20th Century

• Auda Billy: A former Choctaw historian, Auda has studied many of the characters of the earlier story. She is sure of her own guilt in Redford McAlester's murder and is increasingly visited by spirits and dreams slowly revealing the truth of both her own past and her family's history.
• Susan Billy: Mother of Auda, Tema, and Adair, she has spent her life helping those around her, both in boarding school and in Durant. When she confesses to McAlester's murder, the community begins to fight for her.
• Isaac Billy: Uncle Isaac, as he is called, brings the family together and fights as a modern day warrior to protect them. He feels guilty for his lack of action both against McAlester and in his personal life and resolves to make up for it in any way possible. After a trip to a mysterious woman named Divine Sarah, Isaac begins to connect his family's history with its current situation.
• Adair Billy: The youngest sister of the modern family, Adair is a high paid New Orleans securities investor who is obsessed with the macabre and is known around the Wall Street community for hearing voices that lead her to good decisions.
• Tema Billy: The middle sister of the family, she is an actress who has lived in both New York City and London who has moved to Texas with her son and husband to be closer to her family.
• Redford McAlester: Chief of the Choctaw Nation and builder of the Casino of the Sun, he gained his position by making empty promises to his tribe and gained power by changing Choctaw traditions. Once the love of Auda, he has pushed her away with his corruption, eventually leading to his rape of her the night before he is shot.
• Hopaii "Hoppy" Iskitini: His name literally means "little prophet," a position to which he lives up. He is very close to Isaac and makes a mysterious trek with him to see Divine Sarah where she is very impressed with him. Tema's teenage son, he is the member of a rock band called the Chocozombies and has recently dyed his hair green.
• Borden Beade: Tema's husband, Borden is an Englishman, a fact he feels makes her uncle distrust and dislike him. While at first very skeptical of Tema's stories of spirits, he eventually leaves his job in a Dallas theater to be with Tema and her family.
• Gore Battiste: A member of the Alibamu Conchatys tribe, (which had been brought in to resolve the dispute between tribes in the earlier story) he is Auda's lawyer, brought in by Adair, with whom he had a one night stand nine years before. While skeptical early on, he begins to uncover the truth in Auda's stories while falling in love with Adair.
• Dovie Love: An eccentric "aunt" of the family, she, along with her older sister, has lived an adventurous life complete with boarding schools, Hollywood movies and yoga studios, which has earned her a reputation as something of a Choctaw folk hero and celebrity. While the younger of the sisters, she is quite clearly the more dominant of the two.
• Delores Love: Much like her sister, Delores has lived an exciting life. She has a complicated history with Isaac and has become known, in an update of the Bone Picking Ceremony, as a funeral singer of traditional songs.
• Grandmother Porcupine/Divine Sarah: A mysterious old woman, she is seen by many characters (and has seen many more) before Isaac, Hoppy, and Nick go to her home where she leads them on a vision through parts of their history. A trickster character, she makes many wild claims which, at first unbelievable, become increasingly realistic.
• Nick Carney: A local artist and friend of Hoppy's, he assists in any way possible, including being part of the vision quest of Divine Sarah. He is the owner of one of the novel's most comical and memorable images: the peanutmobile, an actual vehicle existing in Durant.
• James Joyce: Joyce is the pseudonym of the Irish gangster with a connection to the late chief. Like his namesake, Joyce speaks in stream of consciousness, which Gore, using tools he's learned as a lawyer, must translate to Adair. Like Elsley, he appears only as the story ends after having been all too present in the preceding sections.
• Carl Tonica: The financial manager of the tribe, he becomes acting chief when Auda is accused of murder. He promptly takes away the tribal status of the family and works to find McAlester's hidden money before the federal government or the mafia. His girlfriend, Vergie Reagan, makes an attempt on Auda's life.
• Nowatima: Grandmother of the Billy family, she is a survivor of the Trail of Tears. She teaches Delores the traditional songs and gives heirlooms of their ancestors to the women of the family.
• D'Amato Brothers: Hector and Vico are the representatives of Shamrock Resorts, financier of the Casino of the Sun, who are sent to watch out for McAlester. After the murder, the dangerous brothers race to find the money McAlester has stolen from them by any means necessary.