Nell is a 28-year-old American anthropologist physically worn down by malaria, fever, and the hardships of her fieldwork. She operates with a fluid, responsive nature that allows her to deeply connect with the tribes she studies, especially the women and children. She harbors a strong desire for motherhood and often feels the heavy weight of her husband's demanding temperament.

Fen is an Australian anthropologist who grew up on a remote farm in Queensland. He possesses an aggressive personality and resents living in the academic shadow of his more famous wife. Rather than passively observing tribes, Fen seeks to immerse himself in their raw, survivalist ways of life while hunting for a lucrative artifact to secure his own fame.

Andrew is a 27-year-old English anthropologist stationed in New Guinea, struggling with severe loneliness and grief over the deaths of his two older brothers. Hailing from a family of scientists, he feels immense pressure from his domineering mother to succeed. His encounter with Nell and Fen revitalizes his spirit and anchors him to his research.

Xambun is a highly respected Tam tribesman who left his people to work as an indentured servant in a white-owned gold mine. Once known as a tall, wise, and excellent hunter, his time away leaves him traumatized and physically altered by harsh labor. He represents a prime ethnographic subject for the anthropologists studying the effects of cultural displacement.

Andrew's mother is a demanding English matriarch who controls the finances for her son's anthropological fieldwork. Having lost her husband and two oldest sons, she has grown despotic and deeply critical of Andrew's career path, preferring he study hard sciences in the family tradition.

Helen is an established anthropologist who previously studied under Franz Boas. Before the current events in New Guinea, she left her husband and a comfortable life in White Plains to pursue a relationship with Nell. This dynamic profoundly influenced both women's personal and professional lives.

Malun is a wise and respected elder in the Tam tribe who frequently presides over childbirths and local ceremonies. She speaks multiple local languages and quickly builds a rapport with Nell, offering her food and cultural guidance. She carries a deep, anxious love for her absent son.

Bett is an expatriate woman nearing forty who lives in Angoram after being abandoned by her engineer husband. She engages in a casual, mutually comforting affair with Andrew, providing him with temporary relief from his deep isolation in the tropics.

Tillie is a finely dressed white woman whom Nell and Fen meet near the Angoram Club. Her formal Western attire and polite inquiries about Nell's research make her appear almost as culturally exotic to Nell as the native tribes she studies.

Eva is a white expatriate woman attending the holiday festivities at the Angoram Club. Like Tillie, her presence demonstrates the sharp contrast between polite Western society and the rugged realities of the anthropologists' fieldwork.

Sali is a young woman in the Tam tribe whose fraught experience with childbirth profoundly impacts Nell. Sali's struggles highlight the harsh physical realities of tribal life and mirror Nell's own anxieties about motherhood.

Teket is a member of the Kiona tribe and a reliable local contact for Andrew. He acts as a messenger between the divided anthropologists and offers grounded, local perspectives on the actions of the white researchers.

Ragwa is Andrew's primary informant among the local tribes. He typically escorts Andrew to tribal ceremonies but steps back from his duties to attend to his family during a critical moment when his wife goes into premature labor.

A. C. Haddon is a Cambridge don who champions the nascent field of anthropology. He serves as an academic mentor to Andrew, famously awarding him a butterfly net for his honesty about the limitations of anthropological study.

John is Andrew's deceased older brother. Once considered a scientific prodigy within the family, his death in the First World War leaves a lasting void and sets a heavy standard for Andrew to follow.

Martin is another of Andrew's late brothers. His suicide, prompted by a romantic rejection, contributes heavily to the atmosphere of grief and depression that surrounds Andrew in New Guinea.

Stanley is Helen Benjamin's former husband. He represents the comfortable, conventional life in White Plains that Helen abandons in order to pursue her connection with Nell.