The Shadow Lines Characters

Alan was Mrs. Price's brother and an intellectual living in London in time leading up to World War II. Alan lived in a communal house with Dan, Mike, and Francesca, and Mrs. Price believes that Alan rescued and smuggled Francesca out of Germany. He dies during the war.

Snipe was Mrs. Price's husband, and he died two years before the narrator first travels to London. He was a hypochondriac and when Tridib lived with the Price family, he often sent Tridib to the pharmacy to fetch him various remedies. He was, according to Tridib, an excellent storyteller.

The narrator's father is the only child of Tha'mma. He's a businessman in the rubber trade who becomes reasonably successful later in his career, and he greatly admires the Shaheb's elegance and dignity.

Jatin is Ila's father. He's an economist and moves his family frequently for his job.

Lizzie is a middle-aged nurse whom Queen Victoria hires to care for Ila. Though Lizzie speaks fluent English and even some Hindi, Queen Victoria insists on speaking to her in a made-up language that Lizzie can barely understand.

In the years leading up to World War II, Dan lived in a communal house on Brick Lane with Alan Tresawsen, Francesca, and Mike. He wrote for a Trotskyist newspaper and fascinated the young Tridib to no end.

Francesca is a young German woman whom Alan Tresawsen possibly smuggled out of Germany. She was extremely beautiful. The Price family lost track of her after the house on Brick Lane was bombed, as she was put in an internment camp for enemies and never heard from again.

Mike is a pudgy Irishman who lived with Dan, Francesca, and Alan Tresawsen in the years before the Second World War. He didn't like the Shaheb, and implied that he believed that all Indian people want to kill Englishmen.

Kerry is an American art student and a housemate of the narrator when he lives and studies in London.

One of the narrator's friends at college in New Delhi. He's a Marxist, and though he doubts the narrator's recollections of the 1964 riots, he helps the narrator look through old newspapers.

Montu is the narrator's best friend when they both live near Gole Park in Calcutta. They often try to one-up each other. Though it doesn't come up for a majority of the novel, Montu is Muslim, which makes him a target during the riots of 1964.

Lionel Tresawsen was Mrs. Price's father and a close friend of Justice Chandrashekhar Datta-Chaudhuri. Tresawsen was a businessman and traveled extensively.

The original patriarch of the narrator’s family by marriage, who began and nurtured the relationship with Lionel Tresawsen. He's the Shaheb's father.

Saifuddin is a motorcycle mechanic who moves into Jethamoshai's house to work and live after Partition. Khalil insists that Saifuddin wants Jethamoshai out of the house in Dhaka so that he can claim it for himself.

Khalil is a Muslim man who moves into Jethamoshai's house with his family after Partition. His family cares for Jethamoshai and he works as a rickshaw driver. Saifuddin doesn't think much of Khalil; he tells Mayadebi and Tha'mma that Khalil is simple.

One of Tha'mma's friend's maidservants who helps reconnect Tha'mma with her family in Dhaka.

One of the narrator's classmates in Calcutta.