Girl Missing Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent

A fourteen-year-old who never fit her London family and finds out why: she was found abandoned as a toddler. She trades one family for another on the strength of a DNA test — then has to investigate the family she moved into.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Girl Who Searched for Herself; Part 2: Two Mothers; Part 3: The Locked Box; Part 4: The Truth on the Beach
Themes:: Identity is a story other people tell about you; The secrets families keep 'for your own good'; Blood versus the people who raised you; The danger of the perfect family

Annie

Lauren's adoptive mother, who kept the adoption secret for years to make Lauren feel like her own. She loses Lauren to the Dents and takes it with devastated grace.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Girl Who Searched for Herself; Part 2: Two Mothers
Themes:: Identity is a story other people tell about you; The secrets families keep 'for your own good'; Blood versus the people who raised you

Jamal Jones

Lauren's loyal best friend, who teases her about boys but insists on accompanying her to Exeter. He is her link to the person she was before she became Martha.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Girl Who Searched for Herself; Part 2: Two Mothers
Themes:: Blood versus the people who raised you

Sonia Dent

Lauren's biological mother, who never stopped searching for Martha and recognizes her daughter instantly. Her late-night scream — 'You can't keep lying to her, Tom!' — is the book's loudest alarm.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Girl Who Searched for Herself; Part 2: Two Mothers; Part 3: The Locked Box; Part 4: The Truth on the Beach
Themes:: The secrets families keep 'for your own good'

Tom Dent

Lauren's biological father: warm on the surface, explosive when crossed, keeper of a locked box of clippings and a photo of a dead first wife. His temper and his secrets are the story's centre of gravity.

Appears in:: Part 2: Two Mothers; Part 3: The Locked Box; Part 4: The Truth on the Beach
Themes:: The secrets families keep 'for your own good'; The danger of the perfect family

Shelby Dent

Lauren's older brother, hostile from the start — and the first to warn her that Tom has a temper and the family isn't what it seems. His resentment may be the most honest thing in the house.

Appears in:: Part 2: Two Mothers; Part 3: The Locked Box; Part 4: The Truth on the Beach
Themes:: The danger of the perfect family

Madison / Maddy

Lauren's younger sister in London, blonde and sporty and everything Lauren felt she wasn't. The Dent family also has a younger daughter nicknamed Maddy, who clings to Lauren desperately.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Girl Who Searched for Herself; Part 2: Two Mothers
Themes:: Identity is a story other people tell about you; Blood versus the people who raised you

How they are connected

Key relationships

Annie Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent
Lauren's adoptive mother, who kept the adoption secret for years to make Lauren feel like her own.
Jamal Jones Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent
Lauren's loyal best friend, who teases her about boys but insists on accompanying her to Exeter.
Sonia Dent Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent
Lauren's biological mother, who never stopped searching for Martha and recognizes her daughter instantly.
Sonia Dent Tom Dent
Her late-night scream — 'You can't keep lying to her, Tom!
Tom Dent Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent
Lauren's biological father: warm on the surface, explosive when crossed, keeper of a locked box of clippings and a photo of a dead first wife.
Shelby Dent Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent
Lauren's older brother, hostile from the start — and the first to warn her that Tom has a temper and the family isn't what it seems.
Shelby Dent Tom Dent
Lauren's older brother, hostile from the start — and the first to warn her that Tom has a temper and the family isn't what it seems.
Madison / Maddy Lauren Purditt / Martha Dent
Lauren's younger sister in London, blonde and sporty and everything Lauren felt she wasn't.

Go deeper

Girl Missing themes & symbols

Identity is a story other people tell about you · The secrets families keep 'for your own good' · Blood versus the people who raised you · The danger of the perfect family

Themes explained

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The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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