François Seurel
François Seurel is the fifteen-year-old narrator of the story. His life as the child of parents working as teachers in a rural village in France has been remarkable only for its lack of drama or interest. One day, everything changes with the arrival of one Augustin Meaulnes.
Augustin Meaulnes
Augustin is just a couple of years older than François, but is hefty enough in both physique and spirit to earn the nickname "The Great Meaulnes." He is a country boy with unbounded innocence as well as a robust sense of romanticism. That romantic view of the world is tested after he disappears one night and comes upon a strange chateau.
Yvonne de Galais
Augustin gets lost on a snowy country road and happens upon the strange country manor. Seemingly abandoned at first, he is surprised to find it is actually filled with youth and vibrancy and, best of all, the girl of his dreams: Yvonne de Galais. She is the beautiful sister of Frantz de Galais in whose honor all the gaiety is taking place. It is a wedding party.
Valentine
Valentine is the girl whom Frantz is to marry. She is the daughter of a poor weaver and this economic chasm between bride and groom sets to work upon her mind and fills with her a thousand silly fancies which conspire to cause her to become too frightened to go through with the ceremony. Although Valentine is actually a minor character in terms of page count, her failure to show up at the party is the engine which drives the entire narrative. The celebration comes to a hasty end. Augustin, forced to make a premature exit, is destined to spend the next few years on a rocky search for his one true love.
