Juniper "June" Song Hayward
June, the protagonist of the novel, is a young woman in her early twenties struggling to make her dream of becoming a writer come to life. Although she was a high-achieving student in college—attending Yale University, where she met Athena Liu—the publication of her first novel was a flop due to her publisher's lack of interest in promoting the novel. Over the course of the novel, it becomes clear that June feels that her identity as a white woman has made publishers overlook her writing in favor of nonwhite authors. Her envy frequently manifests as prejudice and bigotry towards Asian American authors in particular, due to the jealousy she feels towards Athena. However, June denies her own prejudice, always finding excuses or what she perceives to be an ethical justification for actions that exploit or harm others, such as when she gets Candice fired or steals Athena's manuscript. Still, at moments, she struggles with her own ethical doubts and concerns, which are in conflict with the publishing success, fame, or wealth she gains as a result of plagiarizing Athena's manuscript.
Athena Liu
Athena Liu is a young, successful writer who publishes several best-selling novels, wins many awards, and outshines June in almost every way after graduating from college. June attributes Athena's success to her Asian American identity; Athena is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Athena's fiction focuses on Chinese culture, a feature that June is quick to dismiss, bringing up the fact that Athena grew up in the United States, barely speaks Mandarin, and attended private schools in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Despite her success, Athena lacks friends, which leads her to periodically seek out June's company as they both have settled in Washington D.C. Athena dies at the beginning of the novel after choking on a pancake while she and June celebrated a Netflix deal that Athena had just signed, which leads June to publish Athena's manuscript under her own name and plagiarize Athena's work.
Daniella Woodhouse
Daniella Woodhouse is a high-ranking editor at Eden, the indie publishing house that releases June's final draft of Athena's initial manuscript for The Last Front. Daniella supports June through the release of the novel and puts a considerable amount of effort towards promoting the novel, ensuring its status as a bestseller even before its release. Daniella is determined and harsh; after June complains about to Daniella about her assistant, Candice, Daniella promptly fires Candice and prevents her from getting another job in publishing by refusing to provide references. Daniella's dedication to June's career during the release of The Last Front emboldens June, who was disregarded and dropped by her former editor. When June becomes embroiled in several scandals surrounding her identity and the plagiarizing of The Last Front, Daniella continues to support her until she is faced with her own scandal and is accused of using bigoted language against her staff.
Brett Adams
Brett Adams is June's literary agent. He showed little interest or care for her first novel but after receiving the manuscript for The Last Front, dedicates significantly more time to June. For June, his renewed interest in her career confirms her pre-existing resentment towards the publishing industry, which she believes unfairly prioritizes "diverse" voices over authors like herself, a young white woman. Throughout June's various online scandals, Brett remains loyal and trusting of June, despite mounting evidence that suggests she plagiarized Athena.
Mrs. Liu
Mrs. Liu, Athena's mother, plays an important role in preserving the lies that June concocts in order to pass off The Last Front as her own original work. After Athena's death, Mrs. Liu originally tries to give Athena's drafts to a library at Yale, which would put June's story at risk since people could easily see Athena's drafts of the novel and figure out that June plagiarized the manuscript. June manages to convince Mrs. Liu not to hand over Athena's estate. Although Mrs. Liu never reveals her family's secrets, June realizes that Mrs. Liu is paranoid that her family's history will get out, leading June to assume that the family has a dark past. June never threatens Mrs. Liu directly, but exploits Mrs. Liu's paranoia in order to continuously get her to avoid speaking to the public about Athena.
Candice Lee
Candice Lee is Daniella's editorial assistant. When she insists over a heated email exchange that the team should hire a sensitivity reader for The Last Front, against June's wishes—June is afraid that a sensitivity reader will shoot down the novel and prevent it from getting published—June retaliates by telling Daniella that Candice has made her very uncomfortable. June's comments push Daniella to fire Candice, making it almost impossible for Candice to get another job in publishing. Candice eventually takes revenge on June by pretending to be Athena over social media and confronting June at the end of the novel.
Geoff
Geoff, Athena's ex-boyfriend, is a failed writer who attempts to blackmail June after launching a Twitter attack against June under the handle @AthenaLiusGhost and accusing her of plagiarizing Athena's manuscript. Geoff serves as a parallel character that mirrors June; both were in Athena's shadow, both are white, and both feel a level of resentment about their respective failed writing careers. Athena broke up with Geoff after his debut novel flopped due to accusations that identified the book as racist and exploiting Chinese cultural tropes. During the accusations, Geoff made several racially charged comments about Athena on Twitter. June is able to thwart Geoff's plan by recording his attempt to blackmail her.
Marnie Kimball
An author who June meets at BookCon. Marnie writes bestsellers that feature vampires and romance plots. June texts Marnie and another author she meets, Jen, when she needs support. Following Adele Sparks-Sato's essay accusing June of plagiarizing Mother Witch, both Jen and Marnie abandon June.
Jen Walker
Another author who June meets at BookCon, Jen writes memoirs. Like Marnie, Jen abandons June after the Adele Sparks-Sato essay goes public.
Rory
June's sister Rory is an accountant who got married to her college boyfriend and now lives an average, middle-class suburban life. Rory and June have a somewhat distant relationship and never found a common language, despite June's attempts at writing a novel about their sisterhood. Their mother respects Rory's career much more than she respects June's, which serves as a constant point of tension within the family.
Tom
Rory's husband. Because Tom works in IT, he is able to help June track down Geoff as the person behind the @AthenaLiusGhost account.
June's mother
June's mother is distant and never acknowledges June's success. June continuously strives to make her mother realize that writing is her passion, but her mother continues to insist that June should pursue a more "legitimate" career like her sister, Rory, who is an accountant. Her mother does not read her fiction and clearly does not understand the extent of June's success when June manages to sell The Last Front.
