Mandisa
The narrator of the novel, Mandisa is writing to the mother of the woman her son killed. She tells her life story as well as her son's in an effort to help the other mother understand what circumstances breed a killer.
Mxolisi
Mandisa's oldest son and the murderer of Amy Biehl. At the time of the novel, Mxolisi is 20 years old. He is part of a generation of millions of children in South Africa who rebelled against ineffectual schooling and spent their time fighting against the oppressive apartheid government.
Mxolisi stays up all night, roaming the streets in with a group of other boys. He is fiercely intelligent, loyal to others, and very caring and demonstrative to his mother. At the worst of times he is disobedient and a bully to his siblings, at the best, he is a protective and politically active leader.
Sister-Mother
The "recipient" of the novel, the mother of the murdered woman. In Mother to Mother, Mandisa imagines her sister-mother's pain as she comes to terms with her own shame and grief. Mandisa attempts to describe the conditions that led to her sister-mother's daughter's death in order to lessen her suffering—if just a little.
Amy Biehl
A Fulbright Scholar who was in South Africa to help the country prepare for its first democratic elections when she is murdered by Mxolisi. She is posthumously described as good, caring, and optimistic. She is tall, with long and thick dark hair. She cares about her cause and her time in South Africa, as Mandisa writes: "Your daughter has been a very good friend, full of enthusiasm and eager to learn: the Xhosa language, the African dances, and the ways of the people here." (12)
Siziwe
Mandisa's daughter, and the youngest of her children. She is described as moody and lazy by her mother. She is Dwadwa's daughter.
Lunga
Mandisa's other son, the middle child, who is described as lazy and stuck in his own world. Lungile is his father.
China
Mandisa's first husband, Mxolisi's father. A sweet love of Mandisa's childhood, he spent some time as her secret boyfriend. Although he loves Mandisa, he comes to resent Mandisa for becoming pregnant, and eventually leaves her. As a teenager, China is tall, handsome, and popular.
Lungile
Mandisa's second partner, father of Lunga. He is described as "not much to look at," talkative, and short.
Dwadwa
Mandisa's second and final husband, father of Siziwe. He is a laborer and is described as a simple and steady man. He is hard on Mxolisi, but treats him like his own son.
Mrs. Nelson
Mandisa's boss, a white woman who lives a comfortable life.
Reverend Mananga
Reverend at St. Mary Magdalene, the Anglican Church in Guguletu. At the beginning of the novel, he is seen turning Mxolisi and his peers away from the church where they go in search of a meeting place. At the end of the novel, he facilitates Mandisa and Mxolisi's reuniting after the murder. His position as a holy man and helper and leader in society helps humanize Mxolisi and show he was a character worth protecting, even after such large violations of humanity.
Khaya
Mandisa's older brother, he has a child around the time Mandisa gives birth to Mxolisi.
Nono
Mandisa's best friend in childhood, Nono was very young when she gave birth to Khaya's daughter
The Government
Often throughout the novel, the South African government is personified and made to seem like an individual entity that is run by and works entirely in the benefit of white South Africans. This is demonstrated in the following passage: "The government never showed its smiling teeth when dealing with any matter in connection with Africans" (801).
Mama & Tata
Mandisa's parents—tata is the word for dad in the Xhosa language. Mandisa writes of her parents extensively as she recounts her childhood. They were strict parents who made their children go to church, do their chores and do their homework. Mama, in particular, was strict with her children and proud of her home.
Skonna
Mandisa's next-door neighbor in adulthood. She is the first to come gossip in the wake of Amy's death, and is the one to break the news to Mandisa that the murder happened on their street. She never had any children, something she is smug about when it comes out at school that children murdered Amy Biehl.
Nonjayikhali
An unmarried village elder who is the first to bring the news of the massive migration to Guguletu.
Stella
Mandisa's friend from childhood who she reconnects with when she is 15. The girl is very mature, wearing a bra and smoking cigarettes. She tells Mandisa of a mutual friend who is pregnant, tells her about sex, and of the misfortune of all their friends from childhood.
Makhulu
Mandisa's mother's mother. She is sent to stay with her grandmother in her adolescence as a way of protecting her virginity; unfortunately, she is already pregnant when she is relocated. Makhulu realizes Mandisa is pregnant before Mandisa herself does.
Tatomkhulu
Mandisa's father's father, Tatomkhulu teaches her the history of the colonization of South Africa when she is a young girl.
