Premier Catherine Uttley
Catherine Uttley is the Premier of Ontario and the de facto political leader of the city of Toronto. The narrative of the story is driven by the necessity to find her a human heart for the transplant she requires.
Rudy Sheldon
Rudy Sheldon is the real center of power in Toronto. He is head of the criminal organization that controls the doughnut hole which is Toronto’s urban center in the aftermath of the white flight to the suburbs. Sitting high above the city in his headquarters in the CN Tower, Rudy politely agreed to assist in procuring a human heart for the Premier.
Tony
Tony is an underling in the employ of Rudy’s criminal organization who has been charged with the actual task of procurement of the heart. Tony understands that procurement in this case means killing someone nobody will miss and removing their heart. The idea horrifies him in part because his plan has been to get out of the business of thuggery so he can establish a normal life for himself with his girlfriend and their baby.
Ti-Jeanne and Gros-Jeanne
Ti-Jeanne is Tony’s girlfriend, and the birth of the baby has forced her to move back in with her grandmother, Gros-Jeanne. This relationship introduces components into the stark realism of the crime-thriller with political overtones that are initially established. Ti-Jeanne’s relationship with her Mami is complicated by her feelings towards the older woman’s investment in ritualistic witchcraft called Obeah which is a kind of cousin of Haitian voodoo originating along the upper west coast of Africa. Ti-Jeanne will eventually find herself forced to adopt these beliefs in an effort to save Tony.
Mi-Jeanne
The reason that Ti-Jeanne moves back in with her grandmother and not her mother is that her mother, Mi-Jeanne, has become a half-crazed homeless woman. Or, at least, that is what seems to have happened to her. The actual truth about Mi-Jeanne has to do with the darker side of Obeah and its close relationship with voodoo. Only it turns out that Gros-Jeanne is not the only advanced practitioner living in Toronto. Mi-Jeanne’s mother just happens to live closer to the common people of Toronto—both figuratively and literally—than the other practitioner. Eventually, the true nature of Mi-Jeanne's existence is revealed, as are certain other truths that will shock the family to its core.
