John Peyton, Sr.
Referred to simply as John Senior in most cases, he is the frontier patriarch of a Newfoundland family who has little use for the members of the indigenous tribe officially known as the Beothuk, but which he and others of like mind dismissively refer to as Red Indians. He is introduced in the opening pages as suffering from visitations from “the Hag” which is the name given to night-terror-inducing bad dreams. Family life as a son and father are the stuff of nightmares as well.
John Peyton, Jr.
Rather than John Junior as one might expect, the son of the senior is typically referred to simply as Peyton by means of distinguishing between them. The introduction to Peyton is through the imagery of begin awakened yet again by the horrific cries of his father dealing with one of his nightmares. The relationship between father and son is compromised by the presence of a housekeeper whose provenance in the Peyton household is rather mysterious. Peyton falls hard for the young woman, but it is the mystery of her past which stands in his way.
Cassie Jure
John Senior’s marriage is troubled due to a taste for other women and the mystery surrounding Cassie’s appearance in the household convinces Peyton that Cassie is one of his father’s lovers. The actual truth of the relationship between the father and Cassie is far too complicated to describe her and one that contributes to the pervasive darkness which expresses John Senior’s character. Another truth is that Peyton does have a significant rival for the affections of the object of his love, but it is not necessarily the man he thinks.
Lt. David Buchan
The bizarre love triangle at the center of the story is deserving of such a description because it is like two triangles at interconnected. Buchan is Peyton’s rival for the affections of Cassie, but Buchan is also John Senior’s rival because he has been sent to Newfoundland at the behest of the British government to investigate reports of terrorist violence being enacted against the Beothuks (the Red Indians) by white settlers like John Peyton, Sr., who, of course, takes exception to this presentation of his perspective that he is merely protecting what is rightfully his.
Mary
The Beothuk are a vanished race. History records them as the only indigenous culture of native North Americans to be completely wiped off the face of the earth following the arrival of Europeans, citing 1829 as the year in which they offically became excinct. As a result, even though the tribe plays a huge role in the narrative, they are most presented as shadows and phantoms. The only member of the Beothuks who gets a singular identity and plays a significant role is a young woman named Mary. Her very name is indicative of the fact that even her unique story must be told through the perspective of becoming a member of the foreign culture which invaded her homeland.
