Dorrigo Evans
Australian doctor-turned-soldier whose experiences in World War II situate him as the protagonist of the novel. Evans is captured by the Japanese and essentially becomes a POW in much the same situation as those portrayed in the Bridge on the River Kwai. The version retold through Evans’ experiences, however, reveal that much of that more famous novel and the film adapted from it were highly sensationalized.
Ella Lansburg
A young woman with whom Dorrigo accidentally becomes engaged against his will. Dorrigo actually never intended to propose because there was another woman with whom he was actually in love.
Amy
Amy is the woman whom might be termed the love of Dorrigo’s life rather than Ella. They commence upon a love affair which is interrupted by his leaving to fight in World War II against the Japanese. There is another reason beside the fact he may not come home that Amy has no intention to marry him, however.
Keith Mulvaney
The love of Dorrigo’s live is actually named Amy Mulvaney. Things are even more complicated than merely his being engaged to a woman he doesn’t love and Amy already being married. Keith Mulvaney is not just Amy’s husband, but Dorrigo’s uncle.
Darky Gardiner
Darky Gardiner is fellow prisoner in the Japanese POW camp in which Evans winds up. Dorrigo’s civilian skills as a doctor puts him in command of the other prisoners and he uses this position to accept a deal with the Japanese CO of the camp. If Dorrigo stops interfering with a severe beating being delivered to Gardiner one day, the CO agrees to make quinine available which can subsequently save the lives of other prisoners. Darky becomes the sacrificial clause in a Faustian deal Dorrigo makes with the devil. The true horror of this deal only becomes clear later when Dorrigo learns that Darky was his own nephew.
Major Nakamura
Nakamura is the POW camp CO who convinces Dorrigo to make his deadly deal. Both men return home after the war to try to return to a sense of normalcy. Dorrigo ultimately marries the woman he does not love while Major Nakamura spends much of his life trying to escape the consequences of being identified as a wanted war criminal.
