Adah
The protagonist of the story is a smart and ambitious young woman from Nigeria who nevertheless falls for the propaganda that London offers opportunities for self-expression and independence that will forever be denied her at home. When she finally makes it to England, however, she discovers its ugly racist and xenophobic character and quickly comes to see she is a second-class citizen. Yet she is not willing to embrace this reality, and continues to work hard to support herself and her children, as well as instill the children with pride and give them future opportunities. She pursues librarianship and writes a book, wrests the children away from their monstrous father, and continues her education and language studies, all the while navigating complicated welfare, health, and political systems.
Francis
Francis is Adah's husband whom she marries in Nigeria, as she is initially impressed by his quiet ambition. Once in England, though, Francis reveals his true, venal character: he is lazy, selfish, cruel, dissolute, spoiled, and privy to the worst patriarchal ideas. He becomes a Jehovah's Witness and thinks this means he does not have to do much to contribute to this life; he fails at being an accountant; and he destroys Adah's manuscript and essentially tries to ruin her life at every turn.
Mr. Babalola
Mr. Babalola is like Francis and Adah in that he emigrated to England from Nigeria in order to study, but enjoyed a different experience as a result of not being married at the time, as well as having a scholarship. Once the scholarship ran dry, however, Babalola lost all his friends as well as his financial independence. He is a neighbor of Adah and Francis and recommends Trudy as a child-minder.
Boy
Boy is Adah’s younger brother. Following the death of their father, the family decides that the family’s money would be best spent on sending Boy to school. Boy and Adah stay in contact when she moves to England (it is not clear to what degree) and he says he will give her his savings if she will leave Francis and return to Nigeria. Adah considers his opinion very important, as they are all that is left of their family.
Ma
Ma is Adah's mother, with whom Adah has a troubled relationship.
Pa
Pa is Adah's beloved father who dies when she is young.
Mr. Cole
He is a "huge African, very young, very handsome," whom Adah considers a "real black man" because "His blackness shone like polished black leather" (11). He is the teacher at the school Adah sneaks off to, and encourages her to attend.
Lawyer Nweze
He is the accomplished Ibo lawyer whom all the Ibo people in Lagos tout as a prime example of their people's success.
Titi, Vicky, Bubu, Dada
They are Adah and Francis's children.
Mrs. Konrad
Adah's boss at Finchley Central, she is a Czech woman "explosive in her welcome and very, very friendly" with "wide hips, a wide waist, and a face like a flattened O" (43). She is very kind to Adah and buys her children Christmas presents.
Janet
She is Mr. Babalola's wife, a Cockney girl whom Babalola met when she was pregnant with another man's baby but fell in love with and took her as his companion. She is a friend of Adah at their first lodging in London.
Trudy
The child-minder for Adah's children, Trudy is a fat, slovenly, lying British woman. She wears too much makeup and has dyed hair, and Adah considers her far beneath her. She knows Trudy sleeps with Francis but she does not care as long as the children are cared for—which they are not. She reports the rude and ignorant woman to the children's officer and Trudy has her license revoked.
Miss Stirling
She is the children's officer whom Adah implores to find her children a place in the nursery; this only happens once Vicky gets very ill.
Mr. Noble
He is an old Nigerian man who came over in the first wave of immigration, hoping to become successful and then return to Nigeria and rule in the vacuum of colonialism. He failed, however, and remained in England. He attained notoriety by acting the fool and the "other" for the whites, who gave him the nickname of "Mr. Noble." After a workplace accident, he took his compensation and bought an old house, where he lived with a white woman, Sue, and their children. He rents it to tenants, which he has trouble finding, but Adah and Francis start to live with him as a last resort. He looks like a witch doctor, Adah thinks, a wizened face, keen eyes, a bald head, and a strange voice.
Sue Noble
She is Mr. Noble's English wife. A pretty and kind low-class woman, she welcomes Adah and Francis as tenants (but sleeps with Francis).
Dr. Hudson
She is Adah's obstetrician who recommends she go to the hospital.
The Sleek Woman
She is a pretty, young "sleek" woman in the maternity ward next to Adah. Adah is envious of her, for she has a handsome husband who loves her very much. She is of a higher class than Adah, and Adah knows they would not talk outside of the ward. Adah learns this woman died a few days after leaving the hospital.
The Indian Doctor
He is the family's main doctor. Adah asks him for abortion pills, which he gives her, but he then pretends like he did not. After Adah confronts him, he finally recognizes the truth and helps her out during her fourth pregnancy.
Peggy
She is an Irish woman who works at the Chalk Farm Library.
Bill
He is a Canadian man who works at the Chalk Farm Library and becomes a good friend of Adah's. He encourages her to read Black writers and to seek out publication of her novel.
Eileen
She is Bill's wife, the children's librarian at Chalk Farm.
Mr. Okpara
He is a Nigerian man who approaches Adah on the street and gives her and Francis advice about her family. He is "immaculate" (157) and elegant, and tries to make Francis understand he is not living up to the standards of Nigerian masculinity.
