Minor Characters
Rabbit
Rabbit is the daughter of Theophilus and Candace. She has a reputation for being unusual, eating things like dirt and chalk. When mainlanders come to evict the Apple Islanders, the sheriff and deputy inadvertently kill Rabbit, causing sorrow for the islanders and symbolizing the brutality of racism and eugenics.
Tabitha Honey
Tabitha is the daughter of Eha, the granddaughter of Esther, and the middle sibling between her older brother Ethan and her younger sister Charlotte. Unlike Ethan, she has dark skin, and seeing pictures of Tabitha and Charlotte causes Bridget to realize that Ethan isn’t white.
Charlotte Honey
Charlotte is the daughter of Eha, the granddaughter of Esther, and the younger sister of Ethan and Tabitha. She spends much of her time with Tabitha, picking berries and flowers or digging for clams.
Timothy Whitcombe
Timothy Whitcombe is the white mainlander who hands out eviction notices to everyone on Apple Island. He hates the job, complaining about it later to his wife, and his own “suffering” humorously contrasts with the significantly greater suffering that he causes to the Apple Islanders by enabling their eviction.
Cheryl Sockalexis
Cheryl is the mother of Norma Sockalexis, Emily, and Scotty. She is American Indian and unmarried, and she comes to Iris and Violet seeking help for her and her children. Shortly after arriving, Cheryl disappears, and the children become Iris and Violet’s.
Norma Sockalexis, Emily, and Scotty
Norma, Emily, and Scotty are Cheryl’s children. Cheryl leaves them with Iris and Violet, who are unmarried and who take the children in as their own.
Norma Clearland
Norma Clearland is a journalist who writes a condescending article about Apple Island that only praises the school that the white man Matthew Diamond founded. This article draws attention to the Apple Islanders and sets in motion the process of their eventual eviction.
Millie, Camper, and Duke Lark
Millie, Camper, and Duke are the children of Theophilus and Candace Lark and the siblings of Rabbit. Millie sometimes plays with Tabitha and Charlotte.