Which character from fiction would you like as a friend?

[CromartyForthTyneDogger]

If you could have any character from a book as your best friend who would you choose?

Anne Shirley could be annoying as a friend: beautiful loyalty but all the gushing and wordy appreciation of life’s joys could grate on a bleak post work drinks night!

@IsadoraQuagmire I wanted to be Midge when I was young!

Anne Elliott
Valentine from Ender's Game
Dinah from Adam Bede
Molly from Wives and Daughters

These are all obedient, kind characters (Valentine also has the characteristic of being super intelligent) who would make good friends. I admire characters such as Jo March, Anne Shirley and Scarlet O'Hara - who set up her own business when women were not supposed to do such things. But I think if I met them in real life I'd find them pretty annoying.

There are times when having The Bloody Nine as a friend may be handy 😃

Another Joe Abercrombie fan here. He does create some great characters.

I’ve always thought that Anne had a weirdly split life when it came to friends. Her childhood friends are all essentially dull — dull, placid Jane Andrews, unimaginative but loyal Diana, flighty Ruby Gillis. (I suppose Gilbert is an exception once he’s stopped being her enemy and before he falls for her.)

Then her adult friends are almost all beautiful/striking, strong, quirky or tragic characters, or beautiful, otherworldly children — sarcastic, striking Katherine Brooke, wisecracking socialite Philippa Gordon, reclusive fantasist Miss Lavendar, Captain Jim, Paul and Little Elizabeth, Leslie Moore, Owen Ford.

@PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle It WOULD be great to be Midge. I've got all the Susan books and re-read them a lot. I always wish I was part of that family!

Re. The Bloody Nine, I do really like Logen a lot but that scene in the blade itself when he is about to murder Ferro or try to, made me rethink whether he would be a good friend.

Brenda - lead protagonist of the Brenda and Effie mysteries written by Paul Magrs.
Don't want to give too much away but she's now settled in Whitby as the landlady of an impeccably run B&B after centuries fleeing mobs armed with pitchforks and burning torches ; providing huge cooked breakfasts to her guests and seeing to their needs before retiring to her palatial, boudoir attic to drink her spicy chai tea and a possible cheeky sherry with Effie, her next door neighbour and good friend who despite her years, is also partial to a Barney and dance around handbags. They solve Whitby 'going ons' which usually involves fighting off multitudes of supernatural 'people'. All whilst keeping her towering wig on and ensuring makeup to cover up scars is en pointe.

I'd quite like to hang out with Jill Crewe and the ponies...

Sarah Prine from 'These is My Words' by Nancy Taylor. She had her gravestone inscribed with 'Wife, Mother and a Pretty Good Shot' which sums her up nicely, though she was so much more than that.

For calmer interludes, Elizabeth Bennett would be interesting to be around and I'd enjoy listening to her.

Any of the main women characters from 'The Other Wind' by Ursula Le Guin. Tenar and Tehanu for their wisdom and experience, the Princess for her courage and Orm Irian for her strong fiery personality, though her turning into a dragon here and there could be difficult.

Sorry to be greedy, but I've chosen two...

1. George Knightley, from Jane Austen's Emma. He's sensible, sociable, gives advice you can trust and has a sense of humour. Who else would you need?

2. Abbie Penhaligon, in Janet Bettle's The Confession. Smart, sassy and a successful barrister to boot - don't they say that everyone needs to know a good lawyer?

Valency Redfern
Professor Simon Darcourt
Emma Woodhouse
Lizzy Bennett
Clover Carr, in Colorado
Lorna Sage (she was real but I know her from her autobiography so can I have her please?)

Noooo! He is a horrible character!

Marilla Cuthbert - there's a woman you could rely on.
The wonderful Lucia Pillson - indefatigable!

Aisling and Majella from the Aisling books would love a night in the Vortex with them or lunch at Ballygobrunch.

I really love Anne. But I know I'd have been hanging out with Ruby Gillis, giggling about boys and frocks. Hopefully I wouldn't develop the associated flirting illness of galloping consumption.

Moonface.

I want to go on the slippery slip.

Elena Olliphant: the stuff she comes out with would absolutely crack me up also she is such a strong wonderful person! I like Magners, trips to the zoo and a smoky eye so I think we’d get on! 😜

Also I think Brian Bilston’s hapless poet in ‘Diary of a somebody’ would make a great mate if only for the humorous verses he’d include in Birthday cards, his love of cats and custard creams and use of his writing shed!

points at username Though suspect Catherine would not be the most chill about DH having platonic female friends.

Would love to join Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg et al.

Also @Aaron95 @Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit Having Logen on one's side would be handy (er... ykwim) but wouldn't you want to lamp him one after the thousandth "You have to be realistic about these things?" YY to Glokta.

Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax from the Discworld books.
Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter. In fact... I'm a teacher and quite like the idea of having the Hogwarts teachers as my colleagues and friends (well, some of them!)

Philippa Somerville/Crawford from the Lymond chronicles
Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan

@HenryTilneyBestBoy But it's so infectious! I find myself saying it at work all the time. You have to be realistic about these things.
Also I love Henry Tilney. He is friendly but edgy.

Any of the babysitters club girls, because it sounds like a lovely life fir a teen, fun, good friends and community, lots of adventures.

Fred (rip) & George Weasley. Because (1) it would mean I'm a wizard and (2) they are so fun

NOT Joey Maynard

Finan, Sihtric, Hild, Halig and Thyra,

All from The Last Kingdom

Dr Ruth Galloway