Danny Conroy
Danny narrates the novel as a boy, a young man, and an adult. He is smart and serious, albeit occasionally unmotivated and emotional. His older sister Maeve raises him after their mother leaves and their father marries the horrid Andrea, and especially after Cyril dies and Andrea kicks him and Maeve out of the house. Danny pursues college and medical school at Maeve's behest, even though he'd rather go into real estate like his father. He marries Celeste and has two children. He does eventually abandon his plan to become a doctor, begins his own real estate business, and is very successful. Maeve is his anchor throughout his life, and he would do anything to protect her. Thus, when their mother returns—a mother of whom he has no memories—he is reluctant to let her get too close to Maeve until Maeve tells him she needs her mother and Danny needs to come to terms with it. Danny does so, eventually establishing a decent relationship with Elna. He and his wife divorce each other but remain close, and he is a loving father to his kind and successful children. Like Maeve, he struggles with losing the Dutch House and obsesses over it for many decades, but by the end of the novel, he has come to terms with his childhood traumas.
Maeve Conroy
Maeve is a brilliant, vivacious, stubborn, and loyal person She is fiercely devoted to her brother Danny after their mother leaves, and the two of them are bonded even more tightly after Cyril marries the cold and controlling Andrea; then, a few years later, Cyril dies, and Andrea kicks the siblings out of the house. She holds onto her hatred for Andrea and sorrow in losing the Dutch House for almost her entire life. She makes a tradition of sitting with Danny in her car in front of the house, smoking and reminiscing. She suffers from serious diabetes, a condition that came upon her after her mother left. Even though she is very intelligent and attends Barnard, she does not pursue further education and gets a job at Otterson's, a frozen vegetable produce distributor. Danny thinks she could do better, but she loves the job and feels needed there. She does not marry or have children, but she is a loving aunt to May and Kevin. She does not get along with Celeste at all, but she eventually loses the intensity of her hatred when she has a heart attack and her mother, Elna, returns to her. She forgives Elna right away and is beyond grateful to have her mother in her life again. She lives for a year or so after that heart attack, and then she passes away in her early fifties.
Cyril Conroy
Cyril purchases the Dutch House at the end of WWII for his young family. He had made money working in the Tennessee Valley Authority, fought in the war, was injured, came home, and started buying land and buildings. A reserved, enigmatic, hardworking man, he is more comfortable on one of his building sites than with his own family. He marries Andrea after Elna leaves, but he remains detached from his family. He has moments of warmth and connection, though, such as when he takes Danny to visit the apartments in Brooklyn where he and Elna grew up. He dies of a heart attack at a young age.
Elna Conroy
Elna is Cyril's wife and mother to Maeve and Danny. She is a simple, compassionate woman unaccustomed to and deeply uncomfortable with wealth or grandeur; thus, when Cyril buys the Dutch House as a surprise for her, she is disturbed beyond all measure. She tries to live there but escapes its oppressiveness whenever she can. Eventually, she leaves completely for India to help the poor, and Cyril tells her not to come back because it jeopardizes Maeve's health. Elna tells Danny later that she knows she made a mistake but she knew her children would be fine. In the years between her leaving for India and coming back into her children's lives, she is essentially an itinerant, traveling around the world (but mostly the United States) helping the needy. Maeve's heart attack draws her out and she reestablishes a connection with her daughter. She still feels the pull to help people, though, and she starts taking care of Andrea. Sandy suggests she is a saint, noting that saints' families rarely have an easy time with them.
Andrea
Andrea is in love with the Dutch House, and she is happy to marry Cyril to get into it. A pretty and fashionable but aloof young widow with two daughters, Andrea immediately takes a disliking to Danny and Maeve and seeks to establish her control over the household. After Cyril dies, she kicks Danny and Maeve out, deeply enraged by their slowness in informing her of what happened to Cyril and festering with years of disapprobation of them and their relationship with their father. The siblings have nothing to do with her for many decades, but when they finally return at Elna's urging, they find that Andrea suffers from extreme memory loss and needs full-time care. She has a nurse and her daughter Norma, but Elna humbly steps in to offer more care.
Norma
Norma is Andrea's oldest child. She is serious, smart, and wants to be close to Danny and Maeve, even though her mother makes it difficult. She holds onto her guilt about getting Maeve's special room for many years, knowing how it made Maeve feel. She and her sister have no more contact with Maeve and Danny after they are kicked out until the siblings return with Elna many decades later. Norma had retained contact with her mother while becoming a doctor on the West Coast, and she later moved home to take care of her. She does not marry or have children. She and Danny become close after Maeve's death.
Bright
Andrea's younger daughter who comes to the house when she is a young girl. She is beautiful and charming, but initially nervous by all the changes in her life when her mother marries Cyril and they move into the Dutch House. After Danny and Maeve are kicked out, they do not hear anything about Bright until several decades later. Bright becomes a yoga instructor, moves to Canada, does not have children, and she is apparently scarred enough by her childhood to never return home, not even for her mother's funeral.
Sandy
Sandy is Jocelyn's sister and the housekeeper for Cyril at the Dutch House. Andrea fires her and her sister when she kicks the children out. Sandy is kind, loving, dedicated to the children, and a loyal supporter of Elna—especially when she returns after many years.
Jocelyn
Jocelyn is Sandy's sister and the Dutch House cook for Cyril. Andrea fires her and her sister when she kicks the children out. Jocelyn is smart, sassy, and has an excellent relationship with Maeve and Danny. She never quite trusts Elna when she reappears, though, mirroring Danny's own concerns.
Mr. Otterson
Maeve's beloved boss and the owner of a frozen vegetable company. As Maeve works for him her whole life and continually helps the business grow, Otterson not only appreciates her but also grows to love her as a daughter. He saves her life when she has her heart attack, noticing her condition and taking her to the hospital. He visits often and is revered as a member of the family. When Maeve dies, he is hit hard.
Lawyer Gooch
Cyril's lawyer and friend. Gooch has to carry out giving Andrea the house and business after Cyril dies, but he likes Maeve and Danny and provides them with advice moving forward. He is friendly and practical.
Celeste
Celeste is Danny's wife and the mother of May and Kevin. She is blonde, pretty, and smart, though she does not think she wants a career of her own—rather, she wants to be a wife and mother (though Danny realizes that this is not exactly true). She and Danny date for a while after they meet on the train, break up for a while when he does not want to get married while in medical school, get back together, marry, and have two kids. Their marriage is generally happy, but Celeste does not like Maeve in the slightest, thinking she was always against her marrying Danny and generally blaming Maeve for everything she did not like about Danny. Celeste and Danny eventually divorce but remain amicable.
May
May is Danny and Celeste's firstborn, a pretty, spunky, charming, and talented girl. She loves her aunt and the Dutch House, and she wants to hear all the stories of the old days. She takes ballet as a child, goes to Dartmouth for college, and eventually becomes a famous actress. With this money, she is able to buy the Dutch House and rightfully restore it to the family.
Kevin
Danny and Celeste's son. He is not a major character, but he is still a core part of Danny and Maeve's lives. He later becomes a doctor, even though Danny had hoped he'd take over the real estate business.
Morey Able
The intelligent, generous, and cultured Dr. Able is Danny's Organic Chemistry professor when Danny is at Columbia on the path to becoming a doctor. When he notices the young man's grades slipping, he steps in to get him back on track. After that, he becomes a mentor, advisor, and friend to Danny, welcoming him into his home. He is Danny's best man at his wedding to Celeste, and Danny later rents him and his wife Alice a lovely place in one of his buildings. He remains a close friend of Danny's for the rest of his life, even though Danny does not enter the medical profession.
Alice Able
Dr. Able's wife, who, along with her husband, takes Danny in under her wing. She works at the development office for Columbia Medical School.
Coach Martin
Danny's basketball coach when he is in high school, a mentor of sorts to him. He dies while Danny is in medical school.
Fluffy
Fluffy (Fiona) lives at the Dutch House with her parents, who work for the VanHoebeeks. After the VanHoebeeks are dead and Fluffy's parents are dead or gone (their fate is unclear), Fluffy stays on as a caretaker of the house. Cyril hires her to be the children's nanny, a position that she holds until she accidentally hits Danny when, as a toddler, he grabs onto her skirt when she is cooking. In the interim between Elna's departure and Fluffy's termination, Fluffy and Cyril sleep together. Fluffy thinks Cyril loves her, but he has no intention of marrying her. After she leaves, she gets a job nannying in New York, marries, has children, and eventually comes back into Maeve and Danny's lives when Maeve sees her outside the Dutch House one day. Fluffy becomes Danny and Celeste's nanny and a beloved member of their family. She is emotional, compassionate, and fiercely loyal. At the end of the novel, she is living in Santa Barbara with her daughter, but she occasionally visits the Dutch House, now owned by May.
Mrs. Norcross
Celeste's mother, with whom Maeve becomes somewhat close. She is kind and compassionate.
Mr. VanHoebeek
Though not an actual character, he comes alive through the reminisces of other characters, particularly Fluffy. We learn that he made his fortune in cigarettes and had the Dutch House built; later, he died of emphysema.
Mrs. VanHoeBeek
Though not an actual character, she comes alive through the reminisces of other characters, particularly Fluffy, who cared for her when she fell and hurt herself as an old woman. From Fluffy, we learn that she was kind and elegant and sad.
Mrs. Buchsbaum
A friendly neighbor on VanHoebeek street.
Inez
Andrea's nurse.
