Robin is a nine-year-old white girl raised in a mining community outside Johannesburg. Following the sudden and violent death of her parents, she is uprooted from her comfortable life and forced into the care of her flight attendant aunt, Edith. Highly imaginative and desperate for love, she processes trauma by leaning on an imaginary alter-ego and drawing on popular culture, like her favorite radio detective show *Squad Cars*. She struggles to reconcile her conservative upbringing with the broader realities of South Africa.

Beauty is a 49-year-old Black mother from the Transkei region. A former teacher and widow of a miner, she values community connection and nonviolent resistance. She travels into hostile, segregated territory during the height of the 1976 Soweto student uprisings to find her missing daughter. To remain legally in Johannesburg while searching, she accepts a covert job caring for Robin Conrad.

Edith is a young, liberal white woman working as a flight attendant for South African Airways. She enjoys an independent lifestyle built around travel and pleasure, making her highly unsuited to become the sudden guardian of her nine-year-old niece. Overwhelmed by grief and responsibility, she frequently turns to alcohol and avoidance to cope with her new reality.

Maggie operates a local library but secretly acts as the "White Angel," a wealthy white woman using her societal privilege to harbor anti-apartheid activists. She possesses vast connections within the African National Congress network. She serves as a crucial bridge between the segregated worlds of the novel, placing Beauty in Edith's home to solve problems for both families.

Nomsa is Beauty's 18-year-old daughter. She leaves her rural home in Transkei to pursue an education in Soweto, where she quickly becomes radicalized by the oppressive school curriculum. She emerges as a student leader during the June 1976 uprisings, forcing her to go into hiding as the police violently crack down on youth activists.

Cat is Robin's imaginary twin sister. She was created by Robin to embody the sensitive, fearful, and vulnerable traits that Robin believes make her unlovable to her parents. Cat frequently expresses the anxieties that Robin tries to suppress.

Morrie is an 11-year-old Jewish boy living in the same Yeoville apartment building as Edith. He is homeschooled after facing antisemitic bullying at his previous school. He forms a fast bond with Robin, introducing her to his obsessive hobby of photographing the ugly and broken elements of the world.

Wilhelmina is a social worker with a nursing background tasked with ensuring Robin is properly cared for following her parents' deaths. While she initially represents a threat to Edith's custody of Robin, she is secretly connected to Maggie's underground network and utilizes her government pass to aid the resistance.

Mabel is a Black woman from QwaQwa who works as the live-in maid for the Conrad family. She is a maternal figure to Robin, demonstrating deep affection and protective instincts until police violence forces her to flee back to her homeland.

Victor is a gay man and a close friend to Edith. He acts as a stabilizing presence in Robin's life when Edith is absent, hosting Robin for Christmas and teaching her about the concept of karma as a way to understand justice without revenge.

Shakes is an operative in the underground resistance movement, closely associated with Nomsa. He is hardened by the struggle against apartheid and views Beauty's relentless search for her daughter as a threat to their operations.

King George is a building employee who lives in the basement of Edith's apartment complex. Because of his biracial background, he occupies a complicated space within the apartheid classification system. He develops a fond, protective relationship with Robin and assists her with transportation.

Phumla is Nomsa's best friend and a fellow student activist. She is deeply suspicious of outsiders, particularly white people, owing to the severe trauma and danger she experiences following the student protests.

Andile is Beauty's brother who resides in Soweto. He takes in Nomsa so she can pursue her education, but feels tremendous guilt when he fails to stop her from participating in the dangerous political uprisings.

Keith is Robin's father, a man employed in the mining industry outside Johannesburg. He openly voices racist sentiments typical of the white Afrikaner establishment during the 1970s. His sudden death alongside his wife sets the plot into motion.

Jolene is Robin's mother and Edith's sister. She struggles to understand her sensitive daughter, inadvertently prompting Robin to create her imaginary twin. Her death leaves behind a single tube of mascara, which becomes Robin's most prized possession.