Who Is Who
This is a character guide to the Carley Fortune novel. It has spoilers about what each person does, so if you have not finished, check my spoiler free review first. Facts here come from the text I read, and I will say clearly where I am giving my own opinion.
Percy
Persephone Fraser, nicknamed Percy by the Florek family, is the narrator. At thirty she is a senior editor at Shelter magazine in Toronto. Her parents are both professors at the University of Toronto, and she is an only child.
She tells everyone she is fine, and her therapist, Jennifer, is the one person who does not buy it. She has panic attacks. She gave up writing fiction after the break with Sam and became a journalist instead. By the end she is writing again.
Sam
Sam Florek is the neighbour from the cottage next door. He wanted to be a doctor from childhood, and he is a cardiologist now. When the book opens he has been living in Barry’s Bay for a year, looking after his mother.
Sam is steady, funny, and careful with his feelings. His flaw is pride, and he keeps things from Percy, including how lonely he felt at university. Near the end he admits that he was not perfect.
Charlie
Charlie Florek is Sam’s older brother. He is charming, flirty, and the first to tease. In the present he works in finance in Toronto.
Charlie is the one who calls Percy. He also takes her car keys to keep her from leaving, and tells her that Sue wanted him to phone. He is central to the secret, and he leads the companion novel One Golden Summer.
Sue Florek
Sue runs the Tavern, a Polish restaurant in Barry’s Bay, and raised two sons after the death of her husband, Chris. She is warm, direct, and always feeding people.
Sue has already died when the book begins. Her funeral sets the plot moving, and her wishes shape it: the party at the Tavern, the pierogies in the freezer, and the request that Charlie call Percy.
Taylor
Taylor is Sam’s girlfriend at the start. She is a prosecutor in Kingston, always in white, and sizes Percy up in seconds. She is not a villain. Sam ends things with her before the funeral, and Percy can see how cool Taylor is toward her.
Chantal
Chantal is Percy’s best friend today and an entertainment editor. She is blunt and funny, and she pushes Percy to open up. Her phone call after the wake is one of the turning points.
Delilah Mason
Delilah is Percy’s friend from school, red haired, confident, and bossy. She is the one who tells Percy about Sam’s drunk pass at a party. Percy answers with a cruel remark, and they stop speaking for years. In the epilogue Percy apologizes and Delilah asks what took so long.
Julien and the Friends
Julien Chen is the Tavern’s chef, who stayed in town far longer than he planned. He tells Percy not to vanish again, and by the epilogue he has bought the restaurant.
Jordie and Finn are Sam’s friends from home. They show up at the wake, and Percy overhears them with Sam.
Percy’s Parents
Diane and Arthur Fraser are professors, loving and a little over protective. They sold the cottage when money got tight, which is why Percy stopped coming north. They are travelling in Europe when Sue dies.
What Ties Them Together
Three objects connect the cast: the friendship bracelet, the Banana Boat, and the box of horror DVDs. Each comes back at the end.
My own take, a draft for the owner: the book works because everyone is likeable and wrong in a believable way.
