The Dog-Woman is a giantess of immense physical strength living in a surreal 17th-century London. She lives in a hut by the river with her fighting dogs and operates outside societal norms, using her size as a tool of defiance. She fiercely loves her adopted son and holds staunch Royalist beliefs.

Jordan is a young man rescued from the River Thames as an infant by the Dog-Woman. He grows up to become an explorer, driven by an intense imaginative impulse sparked by seeing the first banana in England. He takes sea voyages and internal journeys, questioning the nature of time and searching for a mystical dancer.

Fortunata is the youngest of the 12 dancing princesses who fled her arranged marriage to pursue life as a dancer. She runs a dancing school on a remote island where she teaches her students to defy gravity. She embodies complete freedom, self-possession, and the mastery of a reality beyond physical laws.

John Tradescant is the royal gardener to King Charles I and a historical explorer who bridges the mundane world and the realm of wonders. He takes Jordan on expeditions and teaches him practical botany. Despite his mapped voyages, he harbors a melancholic feeling that he has missed the true world.

Nicolas Jordan is a 20th-century naval cadet fascinated by the sea, historical explorers, and old model ships. Feeling disconnected from modern life, he yearns for a heroic journey and experiences a reality where the past bleeds into his present.

The Scientist is a 20th-century ecologist and chemist conducting a lonely protest against corporate mercury pollution. She experienced a difficult childhood that drove her to cultivate a powerful giant alter ego to combat global crises and systemic evil.

Preacher Scroggs is a Puritan neighbor of the Dog-Woman during the 17th-century English Civil War. He publicly espouses strict religious piety while privately indulging in the exact worldly sins he aggressively condemns.

Neighbour Firebrace is a sycophantic Puritan neighbor to the Dog-Woman who helps requisition her home to store political pamphlets. He represents the oppressive and hypocritical social forces of the period.

King Charles I is the monarch of England during the English Civil War. His conflict with the Parliamentarians forms the turbulent historical backdrop of the 17th-century narrative.

Jack is Nicolas Jordan's practical friend in the 1990s. He complains about the economic impacts of environmental protests and finds Nicolas's romantic fascination with the sea to be unhygienic.

Zillah is a young girl Jordan encounters in an unfamiliar town. She invites him into her house, which appears as a high tower from one perspective and a mundane market from another.

The Eleven Dancing Princesses are a group of women who escaped their miserable fairy-tale marriages through acts of rebellion, violence, and self-determination. They live together and share their stories of independence with Jordan.

Samson is an elephant involved in a fantastical local contest. The incident becomes a local legend highlighting the sheer physical dominance of his opponent.

The Sex Worker From Spitalfields is a woman working in a 17th-century London brothel who previously helped found a city where love was illegal. She reconnects with the Dog-Woman to request assistance with a grim disposal task.

Thomas Johnson is a 17th-century herbalist who displays the first banana ever seen in England, sparking wonder in his audience and altering the course of a young boy's life.