Dellarobia Turnbow
Dellarobia, the novel's protagonist, is a young housewife living in a small town in Appalachia. After becoming pregnant at seventeen, Dellarobia felt pressured to marry the father of the child and entered into a stifling marriage with her husband, Cub. Although she miscarries their first child, they later have two more children, Preston and Cordelia. Because of her pregnancy, Dellarobia was forced to leave behind any aspirations she had of going to college or pursuing a career. Instead, she became a housewife—a role that makes her feel trapped. Over the course of the novel, Dellarobia struggles with balancing the social pressures of her small, conservative town, Cub's family, and her own desire to break out of her domestic life.
Ovid Byron
Ovid Byron is a researcher and university professor who studies monarch butterflies. His research brings him to Dellarobia's town after she witnesses the colony of butterflies on the mountain. Ovid, whose life and background are very different from Dellarobia's, disrupts her conception of what her life can be as he introduces her to lab work and teaches her more about climate change.
Cub Turnbow
Dellarobia's husband, Cub, is a source of frustration for Dellarobia and often contributes to her feelings of dissatisfaction. Most importantly, the two differ in their values around education and knowledge. Where Dellarobia wishes to pursue more intellectual projects and learn more about the world, Cub appears to be happy simply following his routines on the farm and doing what his father, Bear, tells him to do. Cub frequently chooses to remain passive in situations that matter to Dellarobia, especially when dealing with his parents.
Hester Turnbow
Bear, Cub's father, is the patriarch of the Turnbow family and main decision-maker when it comes to the management of their land and animals. One of the novel's conflicts arises when Bear makes a deal with a logging company to tear down the forest where the monarch butterflies settle.
Preston Turnbow
Preston, Dellarobia's son, is a precocious five-year-old who falls in love with science and research after Ovid's arrival. Incredibly curious, Preston becomes invested in the monarch butterflies and loves to learn about them, as well as all the various tasks that Ovid does as he works on the mountain. One of the implied reasons for Dellarobia's eventual decision to leave Cub is that she wants a different, more intellectually stimulating life for Preston—one that Cub cannot give him because of his own uninterest in learning.
Cordelia Turnbow
Dellarobia's daughter, a toddler.
Dovey
Dellarobia's best friend since high school. Dovey lives in a nearby town, Cleary. Unlike Dellarobia, she has remained single—a lifestyle that Dellarobia finds herself growing increasingly envious of as she sees the freedom that Dovey has without a husband or family to take care of. Dovey pushes Dellarobia to step outside of her comfort zone by taking on the research assistant position with Ovid and is a continuous support for Dellarobia when she feels alienated by her mother-in-law or the town's culture.
Bobby Ogle
Bobby Ogle is the young and charismatic pastor who leads the local church. He is instrumental in Bear eventually changing his decision about allowing the loggers to destroy the mountain and also contributes to the religious fervor surrounding the butterflies' arrival. It is later revealed that he is Hester's first child, conceived in an affair she had while Bear was away serving in the army.
Juliet Byron
Juliet is Ovid's wife, a folklorist who also works studying monarch butterflies. Juliet, stylish and highly educated, at first makes Dellarobia feel insecure because of her own relative lack of education and money. However, Juliet also eventually helps Dellarobia realize that she must leave her marriage in order to grow into the person that she wants to be.
Tina
A local journalist who conducts intrusive interviews with Dellarobia and later, with Ovid. Tina, a symbol for the modern media, manipulates information and forces Dellarobia into saying things that she doesn't mean. Tina's refusal to straightforwardly talk about climate change angers Ovid, who grows so frustrated in his interview with her that he bursts into a furious rant which later goes viral after Dovey posts it online.
