Traveling Companions

Hervey Allen assembles for us a rich cast of characters for this continuing saga. Some of these people were introduced in early books but we felt that it is in Toward The Morning that their greatest impact is felt. There is a rich mix of people within it's pages and, as always, it makes for fascinating and unforgetable reading.

Frances Melissa O'Toole

The runaway indentured laborer! We came across her early on in the saga when she is being brow-beaten by Mrs. Frazier, a woman who put the "F" in fishwife! She escapes and meets up with Salathiel and becomes his "lady", so to speak. We think that she is not good enough for the likes of Salathiel, and either does Salathiel, one has a feeling. She is a bit too shanty Irish. She is also given to "spells" where she transends into a world of visions. She has all the potential of being a early American Madame Bovary!

Arthur St. Clair

Here is a real historical person! I don't know what to think about the character. We first meet him at in The Forest And The Fort. He is blustering, vain, and pompous! He is up to his elbows in frontier speculation and conniving. But it's hard not to admire his confidence and panache. Later on, as in Toward The Morning, he comes across as gentlemanly and somewhat courtly! History books call him a "plodding General"!!?! Click on thumbnail for caption and closeup

Lieutenant Wully Grant

The burly, shrewed, and bragging Scotsman. This seemingly open and gruff character has some character flaws that are exploited by others for profit. He is a pivotal figure in this book, whose weakness for cards and liquor proves his undoing. Ah! He also has a weakness for fireworks!

Hans Schmidt

We chose to include this person of marginal importance because he is such a "type"! He is the kind of person that all of us have probably met at some time in our lives; a swaggering, self-important man who has been given a little authority. He's mean and pompous, and it's a joy it see him reduced to cowaring in his warehouse!

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