Which characters in a book have stayed with you long after reading the book?

Agnes from Burial Rites
Teddy from Life after Life and A God in Ruins
Think about them often!

More votes for Jude (Little Life) and Theo (Goldfinch). Ferguson from 4321 is my latest.

Anne Shirley, as she reminded me of me when I was a little girl (I first read the books when I was a bit older and a bit more jaded.) Her friend Leslie also haunted me, there's a bit where reading between the lines you get a sense of how awful things were for her.

Princess Amy from The Ordinary Princess. She was cool.

Sara Crewe from A Little Princess, I ended up copying her, by staying quiet if people were yelling at me. I think that annoys them more sometimes.

Laura Ingalls in the Little House books, I know she was a real person, but I always got the impression she was a bit before her time and was constrained by the time and place she lived in.

Mildred Hubble, I read The Worst Witch for the first time aged nine, which started my love affair with all things witchy.

Severus Snape, I always felt so sorry for him, especially after reading The Order Of The Phoenix. I could totally see where he was coming from most of the time. And he was always right about stuff, even if it took his death for the Golden Trio to figure it out. (Yes I cried, especially as I know it was a handy plot device, meanwhile that bastard Lucius Malfoy got away with it, again!) I know he's written as the tragic gothic antihero, but I've been in love with him since I first started reading the books at 13. The snarky bastardry was just a bonus.

Am I allowed to say one of my own characters? Because my character Amy has been haunting me for 14 years. My own fault for making her life so tragic, although she is getting a happy ending. She keeps telling me I need to finish her story!

Rose in Brighton Rock, even though I found her very frustrating. If she lived a normal lifespan, she would have still been alive in the 1990s. Did she ever move on? Did she have another family and did she ever tell them what happened to her?

Yes, Boris and Theo from The Goldfinch, and there was also something fascinating about Pippa.
I wish Donna Tartt would write a sequel so we can find out what happened next!

Billy Prior from the Regeneration Trilogy. I first read them 20 years ago and he's definitely lingered.

Matthew Shardlake I wonder about from time to time, I wonder if he will ever find happiness!

My username's namesake from the books by Rachel Hartman. My heart broke when I realised there were only two books. I'd love to read more of her later life.

Joe Gargery from Great Expectations. The scene where he visits Pip and can't manage to hang his hat up is both heartbreaking and hilarious. Such a sweet man.

Lyra Belacqua from the Northern Lights series. Everything I wished I'd been as a little girl.

Seraphina the Witch from Northern Lights. Cool, beautiful, tragic.

Jo March - my spirit character.

Olive Kitteridge from the eponymous book by Elizabeth Stroud. Funny and flawed, with a golden heart.

Dorothea Brooke from Middlemarch. Oh, I did feel for her when she was married to Casaubon with his 'white moles'

Sofia Mendes, The Sparrow and Children of God.

Kevin, Eva and Franklin, We Need To Talk About Kevin. For different reasons! I get so angry with Franklin, feel so bad for Eva and am just confused by Kevin, I feel like I need to see who he turned out to be 7 years on.

Mary Whitney, Alias Grace.

Bran de Montfort, Falls the Shadow.

Arkady Renko, Gorky Park/ Polar Star/ Red Square, etc. Karp Korobetz, Polar Star.

Bar-Avo, The Liar's Gospel

So many. I could write this list all day tbh!

Tobee how lovely to come across another Cold Christmas fan. It's one of my all time favourite books. Do you think Josephine and Simon did ever meet again?

Michael Henchard in the Mayor of Casterbridge, Lord Jim in Conrad's Lord Jim. The girls from Malory Towers and the Five find-outers from the Enid Blyton books!

Yes, definitely Theo from the Goldfinch.

From recent reads, Ifemelu in Americanah - she was such a vivid character and I wonder how it worked out between her and Obinze. Also Eleanor Oliphant has stayed in my head since finishing it

The couple in Norwegian Wood.

Mariam from A Thousand Splendid Suns. My god, that book broke my heart. Such a strong woman.

Kevin from "We need to talk about Kevin". His actions at the end of the book have haunted me for years. Plus nearly every character from "Never let me go"

Anna from When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Theo from The Goldfinch

Holden Caulfield

Owen Meany

Marie-Laure and Werner from All the Light We Cannot See

I used to read Corelli repeatedly, in my late teens. Got to the stage my mum would ask ‘Carlo?’ when I cried, even though she’d never read it.

Tragic, wonderful man he was.

Oh yes yes Carlo! Me too!

I weep real tears every time I read that book.

Also Lennie from Of Mice and Men... I know not MN's book of choice but I love him. I can hear his voice .

Boxer from Animal Farm

And of course Piggy

I am a sucker for the tragic underdog it seems.

I also love Charley Bates.

Carlo in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. A wonderful, deep character. Adored him.

Owen from A Prayer for Owen Meany is the one character that has stuck around in my head. There is a scene in the book towards the end that was so uplifting and sad that I'll never forget it.

I really liked Fay and Tom from The Republic of Love as well.

But I think if it comes to Carol Shields books, Brenda and Jack Bowman from Happenstance are the characters that stayed with me most.

I loved her books, I miss her writing now.

Lenore Doolan from Important Artifacts... by Lianne Shapton.

Offred from The Handmaid's Tale, I know she made the tapes but we don't know what happened after that, and I wonder about her and her daughter.

Sophie from Sophie's World, because she would be my age and I found her very interesting.

Jennifer from Digging to Australia by Lesley Glaister. She was lonely and odd as a teenager and I felt bad for her and hoped she'd be okay. Then there was a second book and things hadn't gone as well for her as I'd hoped.

Emily from Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler. And Elizabeth from The Clock Winder by the same author. I liked them both

Liesl (sp?) From The Book Thief. I've thought of her very often since reading the book 2 years ago. I miss her and have never been able to watch the film as it won't be "her."...

Tess.

Hardy confessed to being upset about her treatment at the hands of Victorians so he obviously thought she was real too!