Briar is 16 and the youngest member of the Smith family. Unlike Cadence, Briar has no interest in romance. While Cadence identifies with Jane Eyre, Briar relates to Bernadette from The Song of Bernadette and Joan of Arc. Like these chaste religious heroines, Briar sees herself as having a special destiny. As Joan of Arc’s spiritual visions led her to defend France against England in the Hundred Years’ War, Briar’s visions of U-boats—which turn out to be genuine sightings—protect the island and its soldiers from Tyson and his traitorous spying.

Briar plays the role of detective in the novel’s detective-story subplot, gathering the clues that lead her to Tyson. Like Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple, she displays an investigative acumen that challenges age and gender norms. The teen girl does the work that’s beyond the older, male authorities. Briar notes her superiority, boasting, “At sixteen, I probably knew more about the U.S. military than McManus did” (106). Her faith in herself, and her distrust of authorities like the Coast Guard and McManus, push her to harbor Peter.

Briar’s name indicates her thorniness, but this is not the extent of her character. Though she’s a prickly nonconformist, Briar isn’t stubborn, nor does she push away the other women. She tells them about Peter, and they help care for Peter. She also shares Mr. Schmidt’s photos. After Peter sees the photos, Briar realizes that Tyson is her main suspect. Despite her habitual self-reliance, Briar doesn’t expose Tyson by herself. Instead, she asks for help from her trustworthy community, showing her character development as she has learned the importance of community.

Bess is Cadence’s best friend, with Cadence explaining, “They say you should have one friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry, and Bess Stanhope was both. I shared everything with Bess” (56). Bess is an honorary member of the Smith family. She left her wealthy but toxic mother to live with them, and was on track to marry Tom and became a legal family member. As Tom is the father of Bess’s baby, Bess, unbeknownst to her, sustains the Smith family line. In the final chapter, it is revealed that Bess is Elizabeth Devereaux, who has been telling Mari the Smith family story. As with Cadence, Bess maintains her loyalty to the Smith family by looking after the farm and keeping it from developers. Bess seeks out Mari to make sure the farm remains in family possession after her death.

Bess has no overt flaws, but Briar and Mrs. Stanhope project unflattering traits onto her. Briar admits, “I envied Cadence and Bess’s friendship, but I worried for Cadence, too, since it seemed a bit one-sided, with Cadence always so concerned about Bess, worried she’d somehow be uncomfortable, having to do without” (320). Briar worries that Bess’s relationship to the Smith family is conditional: Once Bess becomes too “uncomfortable,” she’ll return to her family. Mrs. Stanhope makes a similar accusation, telling Cadence that Bess is “using” the Smith family to play the “penniless farm girl” (406-07). Bess’s selfless actions counter these accusations. She sacrifices her best friend and her daughter to help the Smith family prosper.

Peter is the medic on the German U-boat. Genuinely resistant to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis’ violent, genocidal practices, Peter defects, and Briar finds him, nearly drowned, on the beach. Peter provides much of the drama in the novel, as the characters remain uncertain of him and his aims. Nevertheless, Peter repeatedly proves himself an indispensable ally to the women. He saves Gram’s life by prescribing her crushed aspirin and apple cider vinegar, he keeps the potatoes from rotting, and he helps Briar determine that Tyson is the spy before he kills Tyson in self-defense. While the book puts women at the forefront—the cover features only women and girls—without Peter, the Smith family might’ve suffered a different set of adverse consequences.

Mari is the 34-year-old narrator of the chapters that occur in 2016. Like Cadence and Briar, Mari was close with her family—her mother—but her mother died, and now Mari feels lost. She has an inattentive boyfriend and an unfulfilling job at Jamba Juice. Unlike Cadence, Briar, and Bess, Mari doesn’t begin the story with a set of admirable traits. She’s insecure and after the reveal that she can take over the farm, doesn’t think she has the power to manage that undertaking.

When Mari realizes, “I’m a Smith girl, after all” (584), she has a true transformation. Summoning the strength of a typical “Smith girl,” Mari wills herself to move to Martha’s Vineyard and accept the responsibility of Copper Pond Farm. She becomes a part of a legacy of strong and highly competent women, and she showcases her loyalty to her family.

Major Gilbert is the British officer in charge of American troops on Peaked Hill. In keeping with the enemies-to-lovers trope common in romance fiction, he and Cadence start as antagonists before becoming flirtatious. His foreign identity and his fraught experience in a Nazi POW camp lead Briar to suspect that he’s a spy. Bess kids Cadence that Major Gilbert is her “future husband,” and Briar thinks of him as Cadence’s “Rochester-in-waiting.” Both are correct, as Cadence marries him, though Major Gilbert is not as stormy as Mr. Rochester.

Conrad Schmidt and Tyson Schmidt are German, which makes them vulnerable to accusations of Nazi sympathies. Briar is friends with Mr. Schmidt and thinks Tyson, his grandson, is smart. She claims Shelby is vain and “barely literate,” so when Tyson accuses Shelby of spying, Briar isn’t fooled. While Tyson and his parents turn out to be villains, Mr. Schmidt remains honorable. He takes the SS ring from Tyson to try and pull his grandson away from his Nazi infatuation.

Tom is the brother of Cadence and Briar, and the implied future husband of Bess. He’s also Mari’s grandfather. Tom shows the deadly consequences of World War II. Tom reappears at the end of the novel after having been missing and presumed dead for years. His character gives the story another twist, and he reveals the chaos of the war, in which individual human lives are accorded little value in comparison with the wider aims of the war.

Gram has cared for Briar, Cadence, and Tom since they lost their parents when Briar was six. She is Christian, practical, and a fine baker, and she uses oolong tea to predict future events. She also serves as a mediator. After Cadence says jail might be “good” for Briar, Gram interjects, “Stop that. This is your sister” (261). She also calls out Mrs. Stanhope’s claim that she has “Mayflower lineage.” Gram is a “Smith girl,” so she, too, speaks her mind when appropriate.

Though Winnie is a wealthy woman and a member of the exclusive Bay Club, she does not share the classist attitudes of the other “Richies.” She provides generous tips for Cadence and Bess at the Bay Club and leaves them her copies of Vogue, offering Cadence an early model of what a career in publishing might look like. Later, she introduces Cadence to friends who work for the publisher G. P. Putnam’s Sons, and she helps her develop the ASEs and find a job in publishing that fits her interests and allows her to continue living on the Vineyard. By recognizing and supporting Cadence’s talent, Winnie helps break down the class barriers that stand in the way of social mobility.