Father Archangel Gstir
A Bavarian priest that is sent to Canada to to set up a Catholic ministry in the backwoods of Ontario. He is drawn to the small town of Shoneval and its natural beauty and sets out to build a magnificent stone church with a bell with the financial backing of King Ludwig II back in Bavaria.
He arranges a religious procession for the feast of Corpus Christi in order to draw the community around Shoneval together to work on the creation of a central church. His ambitions are realized and the church is built with the help of the villagers. He dies shortly after realizing his dream of seeing a grand bell being given to the church.
Joseph Becker
A German resident of Shoneval, he is a miller as well as a skilled wood-carver. He helps Father Gstir establish a stone church in Shoneval and does the wood carvings including the crucifix and a statue of the Virgin Mary.
He marries a talented seamstress within their community who sews the elaborate vestments and altar cloths for Father Gstir and the new church. He passes on his skill in wood-carving to his grandchildren Klara and Tilman.
Klara Becker
The main protagonist of the story, she is a talented seamstress as well as wood-carver, having inherited both her grandparents’ artistic skills. Although her grandfather, Joseph Becker, focuses his attentions and wood-carving teachings on her brother Tilman, Klara proves herself to be a gifted carver as well. As a teenager, her mother passes away and she takes over her seamstress business, while maintaining her carving on the side.
She falls in love with a local boy, Eamon, and they plan to marry. When he announces his intentions of volunteering for the war and flying planes, Klara is hurt and angered and they do not speak before he leaves. He goes missing in the war and is never found, leaving Klara heartbroken and grief-stricken for years after the war ends. She decides to stop carving and live out her years as a spinster in Shoneval, alone on the Becker farm.
Years later, as she approaches middle age, her long-lost brother returns and they set out to France and the Vimy Ridge memorial construction. As part of her healing process, she carves one of the figures at Vimy Ridge to resemble Eamon’s face, finally acknowledging her memories of him and accepting his loss. She finds love again with Tilman’s Italian friend Giorgio and together they return to the Becker home in Canada and start a new life together.
Tilman Becker
The older brother of Klara, he is a wanderer and detests staying in one place for too long. His parents name him after the German sculptor and woodcarver Tilman Riemenschneider. As a child, he hates being trapped in doors and constantly wanders off, sometimes for days or weeks at a time. Due to his wandering, at age 12, his mother fears losing him and has his father chain him up in the shed. Klara eventually sets him free, feeling sorry for him. He leaves the home without returning and his mother and father never see him again.
From his years on the road, he learns how to beg and find shelter and short-term work. He meets a variety of people on the road and at one point is taken in by an Italian family of stone carvers, the Vigamontis. Through the Vigamonti family, he gains employment in a factory carving emblems and decorative work for stoves but loses his job and joins the army in WWI. During the war, he loses a leg, which makes his wandering and homeless life especially difficult.
He finally returns home to his family home in Shoneval where he is reunited with his younger sister Klara. She convinces him to take part in the construction of Vimy Ridge and together they set out for France where Tilman eventually falls in love with a local chef, Monsieur Recouvrir of the Hotel Picardie. Through his time in France and his meeting of Recouvrir, he finally finds a sense of belonging and peace. He takes an interest in cuisine and Tilman and Recouvrir eventually go back to Canada and settle in Quebec, opening a restaurant.
Eamon O’Sullivan
A timid son of an Irish family, he grows up with Klara in Shoneval. He falls in love with Klara and wants to marry her. He is shy, but steadfast in his courtship of her, visiting her home every evening but sitting silently with her. Finally, he asks her to make him a red vest, which she does so lovingly. He is the only person in their small town to volunteer for WWI, which angers Klara. He dreams of flying airplanes in the war but dies having likely never flown one. She doesn’t speak to him and he leaves for the war where he dies and is never found, leaving Klara heartbroken.
Nicolo “Refuto” Vigamonti
A wandering Italian tramp that Tilman meets on the road. He earns the nickname Refuto because he speaks in negatives. He had left his family because he felt guilty for his brother’s death and feared his family would blame him. Eventually, his love for his son Giorgio draws him back home to his Italian community in Hamilton, Ontario and he brings Tilman with him.
They all begin work in a stove factory doing carvings and he re-introduces Tilman into the world of family after Tilman was left traumatized by his parents’ treatment of him.
Giorgio Vigamonti
The son of Refuto and a skilled stone carver. He is Italian but born and raised in Ontario. He befriends Tilman when he is brought home by his father and together they both end up serving in WWI.
After returning home, Giorgio has trouble finding employment, with many of the skilled labour jobs becoming scarce during the Depression years. This leads him to find employment with the Vimy Ridge project in France as a carver. Here he meets Tilman again. He is introduced to Klara, who at first pretends to be a boy in order to gain employment at the construction site as well. They get to know each other and when Klara is revealed to be a woman, they eventually fall in love and help each other heal from their losses in WWI.
Helga Becker
The mother of Tilman and Klara. She is a talented seamstress with a fairly successful sewing business within Shoneval. She worries constantly about her son due to his wanderlust and fears one day he will never return home. This leads her to have him chained up in their home, although Klara sets him free. He is eventually presumed dead when he doesn’t return home and Helga dies of cancer some years later, never seeing her beloved son again.
Dieter Becker
The father of Tilman and Klara. He feels guilty about doing his wife’s bidding and locking up Tilman and only does so reluctantly. He misses his son after he leaves for good and eventually dies of old age, having never seen his son again. He outlives his wife and lives alone with Klara on their farm, Beckers Corners. He is supportive of her relationship with Eamon, whom he refers to as the “Silent Irish”. After Eamon’s disappearance in the war, he is understanding of Klara’s grief and does not force her to speak of it.
Monsieur Recouvrir
A chef at the Hotel Picardie near the Vimy Ridge memorial in France. Him and Tilman become lovers during the construction of the Vimy Ridge memorial and eventually move back to Canada together, opening a restaurant in Quebec.
Walter Allward
A real-life Canadian sculptor who oversaw and designed the war memorial at Vimy Ridge in France. He is fictionalized in the story, being portrayed as a stern overseer who has designed the monument down to the last detail. In the story, he refuses to have any of his carvers elaborate on or change any of his designs and is infuriated when he discovers Klara carving Eamon’s face. He has a change of heart after she explains her loss and agrees to let Klara finish.
King Ludwig II
A real-life King in 19th century Germany who set out to build elaborate castles in the picturesque landscape of Bavaria. A fictionalized version of him takes an interest in Father Gstir’s project to bring an elaborate stone church to the wilds of Ontario and he sends funds for the project.
