Fictional (and memoir) characters I love:

Charity Lang in Crossing to Safety. From Publisher’s Weekly: “Charity is one of the most vivid characters in fiction; if she is arrogant, she is also kindhearted, enthusiastic, stalwart and brave:an ardent liver of life. Her incandescent personality is both the dominant force and the source of strain in the enduring friendship Stegner conveys with brilliant artistry.”

Clare Abshire in The Time Traveler’s Wife. She is an inspiration with her loyalty and trust, her willingness to believe something that seems impossible to be true, her sense of humor.

Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love. Real, honest, funny, raw, vulnerable, smart, loving.

Ann Lord in Evening. She embodies the reflection that comes at the end of a life, and the realization of the ways in which small moments and people who might seem peripheral in fact define us.