Montserrat is an orphaned young woman named after the chapel of Santa Maria de Montserrat. She works as a laundry maid at a mansion known as Casa Mila, holding onto a golden key left by her missing mother. She longs to uncover her origins and forms a curious bond with a resident artist who shares a similar mystery.

Señora Lucy is an attractive, eccentric artist who resides in the building where Montserrat works. She creates books of pressed roses and claims to be older than her actual age of thirty-five. Like Montserrat, she wears a mysterious key around her neck, which connects to her past as a grifter and a lost romance.

Anton is a man handling parenthood and his relationship with his partner while managing his friend's eccentric home. He works at his aunt's Swiss-Style Weight Loss Clinic. He worries heavily about his stepdaughter's emotional well-being when her favorite pop idol faces severe allegations.

Noor is Anton's partner and the father of Aisha and Dayang. He worries deeply about how to handle difficult conversations with his children. He fears that Aisha's shattered image of her pop idol will also damage her view of him as a reliable paternal figure.

Aisha is a young teenager experiencing profound disappointment when her idol is accused of assault. Her intense emotional reaction worries her parents. She seeks accountability and enlists spiritual help to confront the singer. She appears later as a grown woman making artistic films.

Dayang is Noor's eldest daughter who grows into a capable, intelligent university student. She receives an invitation to join the Homely Wench Society, a feminist club at Cambridge formed to counter a male society's sexism. She surrounds herself with diverse friends and struggles with an inconvenient attraction to a rival club member.

Tyche is an oddly beautiful, dark-skinned woman who appears across multiple stories in the collection. She possesses a distinct constellation mark on her wrist and an air of mystery. She frequently offers guidance, spiritual assistance, or friendship to other characters when they face challenges.

Radha is an intuitive young student training at a puppetry college. She possesses the unique ability to speak the language of ghosts and puppets. She uses this skill to communicate with entities that others ignore, bringing her into contact with living puppets at her school.

Myrna is the daughter of a famous puppeteer and an instructor at his college. She possesses the ability to remove physical pain from others with a touch, though she cannot feel human touch herself. She takes a structured, traditional approach to puppetry and keeps her emotional distance from most people.

Arkady is a poor young man whose parents were drowned by the local ruler. He acts as a protector for his naive friend Giacomo while working odd jobs, including testing medicines for the tyrant's physician. His honesty and sense of responsibility put him in dangerous situations with the local authorities.

Giacomo is an innocent, naive young man who relies on Arkady for protection and survival. He discovers that their apartment key magically opens every door in their building. Despite his apparent simplicity, he occasionally offers profound insights into their circumstances.

Jill is a psychologist who works in a youth prison. She grew up in the foster care system and carries insecurities about her worthiness of enduring love. She agrees to help her husband test a new memory-based program, leading to a highly disorienting experience that challenges her grip on reality.

Dornička is an older woman grieving the death of her husband. She wears a red cloak and strikes a bargain with a monstrous creature to protect younger hikers from its hunger. The physical encounter leaves her with a strange, growing lump on her hip that emits a sweet scent.

Klaudie is a nineteen-year-old girl who maintains a strong sense of innocence. She becomes inexplicably drawn to the sweet scent of a mysterious lump Dornička removes from her hip. She forms a deeply affectionate bond with a goose designated for a holiday dinner.

Frederick, frequently called Freddy, struggles against his family's rigid expectations to work in maintenance at the Hotel Glissando like his imprisoned father. He far prefers teaching young children. He experiences a complex romance with Aisha and accepts an unusual, highly paid assignment from his godfather.

The unnamed narrator addresses the reader in the second person. They work in a UK office analyzing productivity data and feel deeply dissatisfied with the impersonal nature of the work. They become intensely curious about a secretive new American coworker and the locked diary she carries.

Eva is a young African American woman who isolates herself entirely from her coworkers. She carries a leather-bound journal secured with a brass lock. When an office scandal turns her peers against her, she faces targeted bullying but fights fiercely to retain her private diary.

The Tyrant is a cruel ruler who executes anyone who angers him by throwing them into the water. His actions decimate the city's population and leave houses completely empty. He becomes dangerously obsessed with his beautiful physician.

Lokum is a beautiful and talented physician who catches the obsessive attention of the Tyrant. She tests her medicinal creations on Arkady before abruptly dismissing him for his own safety when he expresses attraction to her.

Jacob is a therapist who grew up in the foster care system alongside his wife, Jill. He develops a memory-based augmented reality program called Presence, intended to help mourners revisit their deceased loved ones, and invites Jill to test it.

Chedorlaomer, often called Ched, is a famous Iranian singer-songwriter living in England who claims to hear voices that give him his musical talent. He owns the House of Locks, an eccentric residence where doors must be physically locked to stay shut. He forms an intense, passionate connection with Tyche Shaw.

Rowan is a living puppet crafted from rowan wood by an alchemist. Rowan possesses blue, yarn-like hair and small horns, and their gender appearance shifts based on who is looking at them. Rowan avoids most students but forms a quiet bond with Myrna and Gepetta.

Gepetta is a living puppet who was formerly a human puppetry instructor. After falling ill during a plague, the puppets she cared for gradually replaced her failing body parts with wooden ones to keep her alive. She cannot speak aloud but communicates telepathically with Radha.

Aurelie is Montserrat's mother. She works in the home of a wealthy man and discovers a library key that leads her to a mysterious romance. She is forced to abandon her infant daughter at an abbey with an explanatory note and a golden key.

Safiye is a former grifter who formed a passionate bond with Lucy. The two exchange books and roses by mail across distances. She goes on the run after becoming implicated in a mysterious death at the estate where she works.

Matyas is a globally popular singer who faces severe public backlash after allegations of assault surface. He issues a highly criticized, insincere apology song and music video, prompting his fans to take extreme supernatural measures to force genuine remorse from him.

Hercules is an attractive law student and member of the all-male Bettencourt Society. He defies the sexist reputation of his club by making genuine, respectful advances toward Dayang, challenging her preconceived notions about the society's members.

Jean Claude is Freddy's godfather, who completely faked his own death while sailing to escape his family responsibilities. He unexpectedly resurfaces with an offer of money if Freddy will break up a specific couple.