Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Turner Buckminster

The thirteen-year-old minister's son from Boston who can't hit a baseball and can't stop visiting Malaga Island. He inherits a house, defies a town, and loses his best friend to an asylum—then carries her memory for the rest of his life.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Wrong Boy in the Right Pew; Part 2: The Island and the Machinery; Part 3: A House, a Blow, a Grave; Part 4: What the Tide Takes
Themes:: Belonging and exile; Conscience against community; Innocence meeting institutional cruelty; Fathers, sons, and late repair; Memory as resistance

Lizzie Bright Griffin

A black girl from Malaga Island who digs clams, speaks her mind, and claims Turner as a friend before he knows how to be one. She teaches him the flats and the truth about her community, and the state of Maine takes her life for it.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Wrong Boy in the Right Pew; Part 2: The Island and the Machinery; Part 3: A House, a Blow, a Grave; Part 4: What the Tide Takes
Themes:: Belonging and exile; Innocence meeting institutional cruelty; Memory as resistance

Reverend Buckminster

Turner's father, the new minister of the First Congregational Church, torn between the deacons' demands and his own conscience. He strikes his son, then stands in his own pulpit to confess, 'I have sinned against God and against you,' and resigns.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Wrong Boy in the Right Pew; Part 2: The Island and the Machinery; Part 3: A House, a Blow, a Grave; Part 4: What the Tide Takes
Themes:: Conscience against community; Fathers, sons, and late repair

Preacher Griffin

Lizzie's grandfather, a former preacher and fisherman who leads Malaga's small community of black and mixed-race families. Turner hides him in Mrs. Cobb's house; he dies there, and the town uses his death against Turner.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Island and the Machinery; Part 3: A House, a Blow, a Grave

Mrs. Cobb

The church organist who catches Turner playing and gives him lessons instead of scolding him—one of his few allies. Her sudden death removes him, and her will leaves Turner her house, which he spends on Lizzie's family.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Island and the Machinery; Part 3: A House, a Blow, a Grave

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Deacon Hurd and Mr. Stonecrop

The town leaders driving Phippsburg's plan to clear Malaga Island for tourism and ship its residents to the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded. They pressure Turner's father and never waver.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Island and the Machinery

How they are connected

Key relationships

Lizzie Bright Griffin Turner Buckminster
A black girl from Malaga Island who digs clams, speaks her mind, and claims Turner as a friend before he knows how to be one.
Reverend Buckminster Turner Buckminster
Turner's father, the new minister of the First Congregational Church, torn between the deacons' demands and his own conscience.
Preacher Griffin Lizzie Bright Griffin
Lizzie's grandfather, a former preacher and fisherman who leads Malaga's small community of black and mixed-race families.
Preacher Griffin Turner Buckminster
Turner hides him in Mrs.
Preacher Griffin Mrs. Cobb
Cobb's house; he dies there, and the town uses his death against Turner.
Mrs. Cobb Turner Buckminster
The church organist who catches Turner playing and gives him lessons instead of scolding him—one of his few allies.
Mrs. Cobb Lizzie Bright Griffin
Her sudden death removes him, and her will leaves Turner her house, which he spends on Lizzie's family.
Deacon Hurd and Mr. Stonecrop Turner Buckminster
They pressure Turner's father and never waver.

Go deeper

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy themes & symbols

Belonging and exile · Conscience against community · Innocence meeting institutional cruelty · Fathers, sons, and late repair

Themes explained

Read the full Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy summary

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

Open the summary