Barbara Covett
Barbara is the narrator of the book and therefore the only character the reader gets to meet first-hand as all of the other characters are seen through her eyes. It is ironically fitting that her last name is Covett as she is a very covetous person and envies Sheba her personality and her busy life. Barbara is very passive-aggressive and under the camouflage of being Sheba's friend actually creates a fair bit of trouble for her.
Barbara has been a teacher for thirty years and is good at it, but also good at keeping discipline and keeping the pupils at arms length. She dislikes the new progressive education that is creeping in, not because she dislikes change on principal but because she can see how it is actually bringing down educational standards. This creates conflict in the workplace with the school principle who is about as progressive as an educator can be. Teaching is one area where Barbara knows she is more gifted than Sheba but does envy those teachers who are looked at as attractive on the school or in the staff room.
Barbara believes that Sheba needs her presence in her life in order to function but it is actually completely the other way around and although Barbara is assumed to be straight she seems to conduct her friendship with Sheba as she would a romantic relationship; when Sheba is on vacation in France, Barbara is obsessively trying to contact her and waits to receive a call fr Sheba much as a young girl waits by the telephone for her boyfriend to call; in fact Sheba's obsession with Connolly and Barbara's obsession with Sheba result in very similar patterns of behavior. Barbara reacts to being upset with Sheba by getting revenge and telling Bangs about the relationship, knowing full well he will not keep it a secret. Barbara actually thrives on being needed by Sheba and so the resulting alienation of Sheba from all family and friends actually plays into Barbara's hands and gives her sole access to Sheba. Although Barbara implies in her manuscript that Sheba might have some emotional or mental issues, it is Barbara who seems unhinged.
Sheba Hart
Sheba is an art teacher, new to St George's, and is the archetypal art teacher with floaty, colorful clothing and hair that won't behave; her clothes are all rather flimsy and transparent which causes a stir in the staff room and catches the eye of Steven Connolly as well. Although Sheba is completely in the wrong for both having an affair and having an affair with one of her students, she is not the predator depicted in the media and in fact is more like the person who is subordinate in the relationship. When Steven grows bored of the affair and cuts ties with her she is distraught and behaves like a dumped teenager and not at all like a dangerous sexual predator. Sheba married so young that she has forgotten what it was like to be pursued or even the most important part of somebody's day.
Richard Hart
Richard is Sheba's husband and also rather a hypocrite since in his disgust over Sheba's relationship with a student he appears to have forgotten that Sheba was his student when they got married. He is a professor who is busy in his study writing a book and although the appearance of happy-go-lucky family time is important to him it is still on his timetable. He is rather overbearing and definitely prefers to perpetuate outdated gender stereotypes within the marriage, sometimes becoming such a "know it all" that Sheba apologizes for him to Barbara.
Steven Connolly
Because he is fifteen years old Connolly is seen as the victim of Sheba's predatory nature but, in fact, as Barbara observes, he is not scarred psychologically at all by the affair and was actually its instigator, acting in a predatory manner himself by turning up at Sheba's classroom after hours and moving in to kiss her full on the lips. Sheba views him as a kid with low self esteem who needs to be built up but he seems rather cocky and sure of himself to others. He has basically already caught on to the trick of not being very nice to women as he cuts ties with Sheba as soon as he had gotten what he wants from her without a thought for her feelings, and had already moved on to someone else. His behavior seems like that of someone who has made a bet with his friends rather than someone interested in the other person. Although he is young he already inherently sees women in a coarse way and does not have much respect for them.
Sandy Pablem
Pablem is the Principle at St George's and determined to make himself known throughout education circles as the shining star of progressive tactics. He is primarily concerned with how things look rather than how they are and as long as he can make the level of education at the school look like it is of a high standard he does not much care whether it actually is or not. He does not like Barbara and uses her allegiance to Sheba as an excuse to fire her.
Polly Hart
Polly is Sheba and Richard's daughter and is an excessively uncontrollable girl who has no respect for anyone. She is a committed dope smoker and drinker, and seems to be seeking attention which she has not had due to being schooled at boarding school so that it is easier for her parents to devote their time and energy to her brother Ben who has Downs Syndrome. Polly is the only person who detects that her mother is having an affair which makes her even angrier with Sheba.
Brian Bangs
Bangs is a teacher at St George's who seems to be stuck in adolescence, living by himself in what he calls his "bachelor pad" with the questionable personal hygiene of a teen boy. He has a propensity for wearing baseball jackets and using the slang he thought made him cool when he was in high school. Bangs is attracted to Sheba but embarrassed when Barbara tells him that Sheba could never be attracted to him; as the person who goes public with Sheba's relationship with Connolly, he goes from being a fairly ineffectual person in everyday life to the pivotal one in the scandal.
