The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Characters

Characters

Bonnie Green : She is adventurous and confident. She has a fiery temper, seen, for instance, when she sees Miss Slighcarp wearing her mother's favorite dress. She is somewhat spoiled, but a bright and good-natured girl. She has dark hair and intelligent blue eyes. She is small but strongly built and full of energy, which makes her more resilient to the harshness of Mrs Brisket's orphanage.

Sylvia Green : Sylvia is quieter and more polite and ladylike than her cousin, but she likes to have fun and is a skilled needleworker. For her, everything at Willoughby Chase is extravagant and royal. Despite her sheltered life, she is eager to share Bonnie's adventures. She has fair hair and is very delicate, both of build and constitution, so her health fails under the harshness of Mrs Brisket's orphanage.

Aunt Jane Green : She is aunt to Bonnie and Sylvia and sister to Sir Willoughby. She is a good-natured, if somewhat strict and proud woman. Left on her own, she nearly starves herself to death because she is too proud to seek assistance. Once recovered, she sets up a properly-run school for Mrs Brisket's orphans and takes a firm hand in reforming Diana Brisket.

Miss Letitia Slighcarp : She is a vain, menacing tyrant and a greedy con-artist. She wants Sir Willoughby's money, but seems to genuinely enjoy punishing the girls, especially the feisty Bonnie. She is tall, with bony features.

Mrs Gertrude Brisket : She is a large, lazy woman with yellow eyes who owns the orphanage to which Bonnie and Sylvia are sent. Although opposite to Miss Slighcarp in appearance, she shares a prideful, domineering nature. She is primarily interested in money, and runs the orphanage as a work house, only having the girls do academic lessons when representatives from the Board of Orphans are on the premises.

Diana Brisket : She is Mrs Brisket's vindictive, spoiled, and vain teenage daughter. She loves being the center of attention and having power over other people, and she does not obey her mother. She is humbled by her mother's downfall and reforms under Aunt Jane's guidance.

Josiah Grimshaw : He was dismissed from Gripe's office for forgery; he uses this talent to provide fake credentials for Miss Slighcarp and alter Sir Willoughby's will giving her full power over Willoughby Chase.

Mr Gripe : He is the family lawyer and a kind-hearted man who becomes an unwitting dupe in the conspiracy to steal Sir Willoughby's estate.

Mrs Moleskin : She is the cook at Mrs Brisket's orphanage. She is a tartar and hits the orphans with whatever comes to hand. Her kitchen is filthy, and her gravy (which Bonnie throws in her face) is rancid.

Pattern : She is Bonnie's kind-hearted maid. She stays in the house after all the other staff are dismissed, just to make sure the girls stay safe, and she assists Simon and James in the two girls' escape from the orphanage.

James : He is the good-natured footman at Willoughby Chase. He contrives to stay on after the other staff are dismissed so he can help to protect the girls from Miss Slighcarp. He assists Simon and Pattern in the girls' escape from the orphanage, and then the police in the arrest of Miss Slighcarp and Mrs Brisket.

Simon : He is a boy not much older than Bonnie and Sylvia, who ran away from a cruel farmer and lives in the caves of Willoughby Chase and keeps geese and bees. He is kind and hard-working, deferential to Bonnie, and protective of her. He rescues Bonnie and Sylvia from wolves early in the book and helps them escape from the orphanage. He wears furs and has a warm voice. He is also a natural artist and using his skills to earn money on their trip to London.

Lucy : She is the first inmate Sylvia and Bonnie meet at Mrs Brisket's orphanage, and together with Emma she becomes one of their closest friends.

Emma : She is ordered to mentor Sylvia's work in the laundry at Mrs Brisket's orphanage and becomes one of Sylvia and Bonnie's closest friends.

Alice : She is one of the worst-natured inmates of Mrs Brisket's orphanage, notorious for her tale-telling against the other girls; Mrs Brisket rewards tale-telling with a piece of cheese.

Dr Gabriel Field : He takes charge in nursing Aunt Jane back to health and alerts the authorities about the conspirators.He also encourages Simon in art work

Mr Friendship : He is the inspector of the orphanage but lacks the perception to make a competent inspector. He is easily fooled into believing Mrs Brisket's orphanage is well-run, despite the freezing classrooms, the orphans' inadequate clothing, and their emaciation.