Anne is a 17th-century Puritan woman, mother, and poet living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Raised with access to a vast library in England, she uses her classical education to write deeply personal lyric poetry. She views her marriage as an equal, highly spiritual companionship that far outweighs any material wealth on earth.

Simon is an English immigrant and Puritan settling in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He shares a profoundly reciprocal marriage with his wife, providing her with a love so immense she feels she can never adequately repay it. His devotion prompts his wife to pray that heaven will reward him in the afterlife.

Thomas is a devout Puritan and steward on the estate of the Earl of Lincoln. He secures financial comfort for his family and actively encourages his daughter's voracious reading habits, allowing her to study classical and Elizabethan literature.

Dorothy is a Puritan Englishwoman who raises her family in Northampton. She leaves the comfort of her home in England to endure the rudimentary conditions and chronic food shortages of the early Massachusetts settlements.