Adrienne de Noailles-Lafayette is one of the protagonists of the narrative, as well as its second narrative voice. Daughter of the Duc d’Ayen (Jean de Noailles) and the Duchesse d’Ayen (Henriette de Noailles), Adrienne is born into one of the most prestigious French noble families in the late 1700s. She also has four sisters (Louise, Clotilde, Rosalie, and Pauline), but because there are no male heirs in the family, all five women are pressured to have sons. At the age of 14, she marries a provincial noble named Gilbert du Moitier, the Marquis de Lafayette. She eventually gives birth to four children, Henriette, Anastasie, George, and Virginie. Her eldest, Henriette, succumbs to an illness and dies in infancy.

Adrienne believes that even as a child, “it was in [her] nature to question” (33), and throughout her life, this trait is central to her involvement in the American and French Revolutions. Despite being taught to show unwavering obedience, Adrienne is inspired by her husband’s moral ethics and adamantly supports his endeavors by becoming his estate manager, his representative at social functions, and his voice of reason in arduous times. However, she also blossoms into her own person and founds a school for lace workers, becomes the de facto hostess for visiting Americans, and enacts a daring rescue of her husband from the emperor of Austria. She dies from an illness in 1807 and leaves behind a remarkable legacy of resilience that echoes through history and influences the lives of Beatrice and Marthe, who make their lives in Adrienne’s home of Chavaniac castle many years later.

Beatrice Winthrop Chanler is a protagonist of the narrative, as well as its third narrative voice. Divorced at a young age, she remarries and becomes the wife of William “Willie” Astor Chanler and the mother of two boys, Billy and Ashley. During her childhood, she is known as Minnie Ashley and performs as a singer and dancer to help her family’s finances. When the man she believed to be her father died, however, she discovered she “was an illegitimate child of a bog Irish mother who started with nothing” (331). Over the years, Beatrice becomes a Broadway star and socialite, and after her marriage to Willie, she becomes a sculptor. Despite her wealth, she encounters societal resistance for her career and, later, for ascending to high society through her marriage. During the five years prior to the events of the narrative, Beatrice was estranged from her husband. During the war, she finds a new romance with a French captain named Maxime Furlaud. Her efforts to provide frontline soldiers with vital supplies highlights The Value of Small Efforts in Dire Circumstances, and she often defies the expectations of others to pursue her own sense of what is right. The events of World War I see Beatrice take on a leadership role in the war effort by establishing the Lafayette Fund, the Children’s Revolution play, and the Allied Ball. She also transforms the historic Chavaniac castle into an orphanage, museum, and preventorium. Though lavish, Beatrice is thoughtful and kind—especially to the children who remind her of her past. By the end of the novel, she separates from both Willie and Max in order to honor her own autonomy and pursue a more independent lifestyle.

Gilbert du Moitier, Marquis de Lafayette, also simply known as Lafayette, is Adrienne’s husband and greatest ally. His historical exploits in the American and French Revolutions become a source of inspiration for Beatrice, Marthe, and the vast majority of French citizens. As the last surviving member of the Lafayette household, Gilbert is considered a provincial noble, and this diminished status gives rise to mockery when he is first presented at court. However, he fully adopts his family’s motto Cur non? and proves to be an ambitious man who seeks to promote his ideals of liberty and equality. Although he temporarily pursues an affair with Aglaé d’Hunolstein, Gilbert bears a genuine and deep love for Adrienne until her death, and they both remain dedicated to supporting one another throughout their many social and political endeavors.

As a young man, he is inspired by the Americans who seek to revoke British rule and joins their struggle out of shared principles of freedom and brotherhood. When he attempts to instill the same type of reform in French society, however, the French Revolution proves far more chaotic, and he loses control not only of public opinion but also of the entire situation. Forced to lead troops against counterrevolutionaries, Gilbert is held captive by the Austrian Empire for years. Once free, Gilbert continues to work toward his goals for the betterment of French society, and he ultimately leaves a legacy of one who seeks to forge justice and freedom for the benefit of future generations.

William “Willie Astor Chanler is simultaneously an ally and an antagonist for Beatrice. He is Beatrice’s husband and Victor’s uncle. As a member of the wealthy society in New York, Willie has made a name for himself as an “explorer, author, soldier, politician, and game hunter” and has connections across the globe (493). He and Beatrice have been estranged for five years, and at the beginning of the narrative, he has suffered a leg injury. When amputation is required, Willie never fully recovers from his injury. He abuses alcohol to dull the pain, and his addiction puts his family in danger when he crashes the family’s car while intoxicated. Over the years, he remains distant and cold with Beatrice and ridicules her many endeavors for the ongoing war effort. For Beatrice, he signifies the ways in which The Complexities of Marriage unfairly restrict women’s lives, and although the narrative never clarifies whether she eventually divorces him, she does pursue an alternate romance with Max Furlaud and continues to engage in her various activities for the war effort despite Willie’s resistance to her interests and choices.

Maxime “Max” Furlaud is an ally to Beatrice and her love interest. Heir to the Furlaud cognac fortune, Max worked as a banker before being conscripted for the war and becoming a captain who works as a liaison between the French and British military. Throughout the narrative, he serves as a foil to Willie by showing Beatrice the love and affection she craves; his constant support and love for Beatrice provide a sharp contrast to Willie’s self-centeredness, addictions, and indifference to his wife. Unlike Willie, Max remains a trusted confidant and often comes to Beatrice’s aid. Despite the illicit nature of their affair, both characters share strong feelings for one another. When the war ends, however, Max is unable to convince Beatrice to leave Chavaniac and start a life together in New York, nor can he be convinced to remain in France so that she can continue her work for the Lafayette Memorial Foundation. In the end, they separate, and he marries another woman, has children, and moves to Argentina. Despite their eventual decision to pursue different life paths, Beatrice regards him fondly, and she knows that his presence in her life throughout the war years provided her with much of the affection and stability that was missing from her own doomed marriage at the time.

Anna de LaGrange is one of Marthe’s love interests. She is the daughter of Baroness Emily de LaGrange (née Sloane) and Baron Amaury de LaGrange. Upbeat and good-natured, she and Marthe rekindle their childhood friendship when she returns to Chavaniac. Though they grow intimately close, Anna does not share Marthe’s romantic feelings. Like Marthe’s fiancé, Anna’s spouse is a prisoner of war, and, for most of the narrative, she considers taking part in the Relève program to try and save him. Though she wishes to protect the people she loves, Anna often excuses her father’s collaborative behavior and absolves him of his problematic decisions. When her father is arrested and her mother leaves to go save him, Anna is placed in charge of Chavaniac and remains its president after the war. By the end of the narrative, she is happily reunited with her husband. Her presence in the novel is primarily a means of revealing Marthe’s amorous feelings and exploring the problematic nature of such a relationship in the perilous political climate of the Nazi regime. As Marthe follows her own instincts and finds subversive ways to rebel, Anna’s more cautious approach serves as a foil to Marthe’s activities. Likewise, her ultimate rejection of Marthe’s implied affections intensifies the sense of isolation that Marthe feels in her current situation.

As a gendarme, Yves Travert is an authority figure in the town near Chavaniac and is meant to act as the Vichy government’s law enforcement. However, he quietly and cautiously rebels against the government and attempts to save as many people as he can from the depredations of the Nazi regime. In this, his philosophy mirrors that of Marthe herself. Keen and measured in his action, he takes an interest in Marthe, and when he finds out that she is forging documents, he proposes to marry her to shield her with his position. The two form an unlikely alliance that soon inspires genuine love and affection; Travert even takes a bullet for her when Obersturmführer Wolff attempts to kill her. By the end of the narrative, he follows Marthe to New York to support her and to help American Jewish families find their loved ones abroad. These efforts reflect his need to repent for having failed to save more people during the war.

Obersturmführer Konrad Wolff is a Gestapo officer who displays tendencies for extreme violence and enjoys the act of senseless killing, such as when he beats a young German soldier to death when he first meets Marthe. He also believes in Hitler’s propagandized ideas of racial purity and Aryan superiority. Following a tip from Faustine, he comes to Chavaniac to arrest 15 Jewish girls and nearly kills Marthe in the process, but he is gunned down before he can succeed. As a character, he is less of an individual and more an avatar of the Nazi regime; his actions are always uncompromisingly cruel, and even when he is not physically present, his menacing influence remains a threat to Marthe’s ongoing endeavors to help as many people as she can.