People in the stories

Bartholomew Bellweather

Toymaker, father, brother—and an occasional passenger on the night sleeper.

Edward Bellweather

A toymaker with his father's broad hands, and a household of his own.

Edward Bellweather · Current character illustration.

Henry Bellweather

Keeper of the shop's accounts, with an exact eye and opinions of his own.

Henry Bellweather · Current character illustration.

Lucy Bellweather

Edward's wife, Tom's mother, and part of the family's life beyond the shop.

Lucy Bellweather · Revised character illustration.

Jonah Fenn

The lamplighter who knows the Passage window by window.

Ambrose Peverell

A cobbler at number forty-two, with a pair of dancing shoes to think about.

Clara Mallowdene

Dressmaker across the Passage from Ambrose’s shop.

Rosie Fenn

At home above the corner lamp, Rosie knows when Jonah is taking himself too seriously.

Rosie Fenn tends the kettle beside the kitchen range.

Kit Fenn

Seven years old, and capable of finding a second answer when the first is no.

Kit Fenn sits at the checked kitchen table in his nightshirt.

Constable Dimmock

A familiar tread on the high road, and an understanding that needs few words.

Constable Dimmock, in his helmet and dark cape, stands in the lamplit Passage.

Dorothea

Keeper of the Copper Dormouse, painter, and Bartholomew’s sister.

Miss Ansty

For one evening, nobody is waiting for her to tick an answer.

Mr Corvill

A travelling lantern showman, a day early and a little doubtful about Venice.

Ada Brimble

Canal carrier, with the narrow boat Patience and a grey mare called Marigold.

Pip Hobday

She has come from Amberwick Passage to tell a bell the way home.

Ruth Coker

While the boat passes under Fallow Hill, Ruth takes its horse over the top.

Ruth Coker holds a lantern beside her black-and-white collie at Fallow Hill Tunnel. Josiah is partly visible at the left.

Josiah Coker

One boat, two planks, and a steady passage through the hill.

Josiah Coker, with a black beard and knitted cap, holds his lantern beside the tunnel.

Mr Gedge

The clerk who records both what a cargo weighs and, when asked, what it is.

Mr Gedge, in round spectacles, holds his striped gauging rod beside the toll office.

Tobias Tallowick

Night attendant on the sleeper, with thirty winters of journeys behind him.

Barnaby Gostling

He likes showing people where they have been.

Miss Vokes

She likes showing people somewhere else, and will not label what she cannot vouch for.

Reuben Tapp

A carter in Ockham Hollow, with a heavy cart, a bay horse and a crimson ribbon he has not mentioned.

Reuben in the stable.

Martha Tapp

A carrier with a parcel round, two rooms above the store, and a Sunday planned for her mare.

Martha at work in the stable.

Beatrice Thistleby

Louisa's sister, a pianist, and an attentive listener even when the musicians are still trying things.

Beatrice beside the window on the sisters’ seaside holiday.

Louisa Thistleby

Beatrice's sister, with a plum-coloured hat and another attempt at the little boat game in mind.

Louisa in her plum hat on the sisters’ seaside holiday.