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Gertrude Lorimer: the novel's main character, and the most passionate of the sisters. She is 23 years old at the novel's opening and dreams of being a writer before putting it aside to make a living through photography. Gerty often takes charge of the situation, and is also regarded as the cleverest of the Lorimers. She speaks slightingly of her own plain looks.
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Lucy Lorimer: the most practical and rational of the Lorimer sisters, who is described as "fair, slight, upright as a dart." She describes herself as a "middling sort of person," and is 20 years old at the novel's opening.
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Phyllis Lorimer: the youngest and most beautiful of the Lorimers. Phyllis is often sickly, but is mischievous and spoiled by everyone around her. She is 17 years old when the novel opens.
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Fanny Lorimer: the oldest and most old-fashioned of the sisters. Fanny is a half-sister to the other Lorimers, and is 30 years old at the novel's beginning. She is concerned with domesticity and femininity, and is described as "a superannuated baby" and "an anachronism" with "just the sort of qualities men seem to think desirable in a wife and mother."
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Frank Jermyn: an artist who makes newspaper engravings for a living. He lives across from the Lorimers' studio and becomes a good friend of the sisters before eventually marrying Lucy.
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Sidney Darrell: a prominent London artist who invites the Lorimers to many social events. He asks Phyllis to pose for him as a model, and later they plan to leave for Italy together.
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Lord Watergate: a physiologist with connections in artistic circles, and a friend of Mr. Darrell. He first contacts the Lorimers to make post-mortem photographs of his deceased wife. Later he marries Gertrude.
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