Ma, or Lillian Flett, is Thomas Flett’s mother. She is a secondary, round character. Ma lives with Thomas in their home in Longferry, where she takes care of the cooking and housework for both of them. Ma is depicted as a practical and hardworking working-class woman. Growing up, she contributed to the family business by helping to boil and jar the shrimp her father caught. She stayed in school until she conceived a child with her teacher, Patrick Weir, at the age of 16. This experience caused Ma to be excluded by some people in Longferry, contributing to a broader sense that she lacked control over her life choices. She tells Thomas, “After that, after something bad like that, you never really get a say in your own life. It’s chosen for you, and you have to nod along and say you’re grateful” (130). Ma’s commitment to her family and their survival despite these challenges demonstrates her resilience. 

At just 36, Ma has multiple ailments, including a back hernia, stemming from physical work and lack of resources, but she is described as a once-beautiful woman whom many men still want to date. Like her father, Pop, Ma is highly pragmatic, always prioritizing the family’s survival. She manages their meager finances, trying to keep her and Thomas from becoming too indebted. She is also her father’s daughter in that she feels threatened when she notices Thomas’s music, as his intellectual interests are a chasm between them. Ma considers such self-expression a silly distraction from real work, but her opinion softens when Thomas assures her that he will not abandon her, allowing them to turn over a new leaf in their relationship.

Mr. Edgar Acheson is an American film director and producer. He is a secondary and round character who also plays a key role in Thomas’s character arc. Mr. Acheson is a confident, creative person who is passionate about his craft of filmmaking. He chats eagerly with Ma and Thomas about his film and easily persuades Thomas to become his local guide. Mr. Acheson’s art is his priority in life. He tells Thomas all about his creative vision and how much he prizes artistic freedom while admitting that he has neglected his family to pursue his art.

While at first Mr. Acheson seems like the charismatic and successful artist he once was, Part 3 reveals the truth. While at war, he became addicted to Benzedrine. His addiction worsened when he returned to America, and he became unpredictable and obsessive. This caused his mother, wife, and daughter to consider him “selfish” and “delusional,” and he became estranged from his family. Indeed, even Mr. Acheson admits to Thomas that he is in crisis, telling him, “I guess I’ve been a little—I’m not sure how I should put it. Overwhelmed. Depressed. Despairing” (91). Nevertheless, meeting Mr. Acheson prompts Thomas to think differently about his own life and to reflect on his passion for music, ultimately causing him to conclude that he must make it more of a priority.

Joan Wyeth is Thomas Flett’s love interest and a secondary, flat character. The younger sister of Harry Wyeth, Thomas’s best friend, Joan lives with the rest of the Wyeth family in their home in Longferry, where she works as a teller at the local bank. Joan is portrayed as a kind and pretty young woman who may return Thomas’s feelings. 

Thomas, however, is too shy to ask her out. When he sees her at the bank, he is sick with nerves: “All at once, the fatty steak he’s eaten sinks inside his guts and he’s afraid he’ll chuck it up before he meets her at the counter. She’s a few years older than her brother and a thousand times as pretty” (60). Thomas’s near-death experience in the sinkpit motivates him to confront this fear and talk to Joan more: “He’s been closer to the grave than he has ever been to marriage. He can’t even tell Joan Wyeth that he likes her. It can’t stay that way forever” (118). Like Thomas’s creative pursuits, Joan’s narrative role is thus in part to underscore that he is in danger of letting his life slip by.

The novel underscores the connection between Joan and Thomas’s music in the final pages. Here, Joan’s kind demeanor and chemistry with Thomas help them have a better conversation, during which he reveals that he has been working on his music. Joan shows her supportive nature with words of praise, telling Thomas, “I can’t believe you sing so well. It’s marvellous. But look at you, just wandering in all casual and shy, and you’ve got something like that hiding in your head” (161). Joan’s encouragement is very meaningful to Thomas, who decides that he will ask her out soon.

Mildred Acs is Mr. Acheson’s mother and a secondary, flat character. She is an author who lives in Borehamwood, England. Mildred is portrayed as a loving mother whose experiences with her son have nevertheless tested her patience. As she packs up her son’s room, Thomas notices that Mildred is very orderly and seems to work very hard: “She’s a conscientious woman, he can tell, and doesn’t seem a stranger to hard work” (137). Despite this, Mildred has become tired of coping with her son’s problems, and she tells Thomas about the firm boundaries that she is trying to set with him: “You see, the trouble with my son—and I do love him, warts and all—is that he’s always taking liberties with people’s feelings—yours included, so I gather—and there comes a point when one just has to say enough of that, you know?” (137). Mildred expresses particularly deep disappointment regarding her son’s drug addiction and penchant for conflict, fondly remembering a time when he was healthier and had more potential as an artist. She tries to undo the damage he has done—for instance, she wants to pay Thomas and hires him to drive the car back to Borehamwood. These gestures show Mildred’s kind and thoughtful personality.