Story world

Characters

Bios, relationships, voice profiles and chapter-scoped knowledge. Details unlock as you read.

Naomi Baptiste

Present-day witness and keeper of evidence

Naomi Baptiste is thirty-four when The Visitor in Her Bed begins. She manages ordinary work and an unsettling experience in her apartment, seeking practical answers rather than accepting an explanation she cannot verify. Since childhood, she has seen people others could not see. Her story follows what she witnesses, what her family tells her, and the evidence she chooses to examine.

Camille

Elderly twin of Sabine

Elderly twin of Sabine.

Sabine

Elderly twin of Camille

Elderly twin of Camille.

Denise

Camille’s niece

Sixty-six in 2027, New Orleans.

Renée

Naomi’s mother

Present day.

Thomas

Husband of Imani

Husband of Imani.

Imani

Wife of Thomas

Wife of Thomas.

Isabel

Earlier generation · the damaged drum and the first response

Earlier generation · the damaged drum and the first response.

Basile

Louise’s brother

“Basile,” she said at last.

Gabriel

Camille’s brother

“Who was Gabriel?” she asked.

Clémence

Odette’s sister

Then she said, “Clémence, you don't have to stand in the hall.”

Odette

Naomi’s great-grandmother

“And hers was Odette,” Sabine said. “Who could starch a collar stiff enough to hurt your feelings.”

Julien

Isabel’s son

“There she had a daughter, Rose. Later, a son, Julien.”

Anselme

Supernatural presence · borrowed voices · contested, unreliable origin · desires to become human

Supernatural presence · borrowed voices · contested, unreliable origin · desires to become human.

Élise Mabiala

Historian and translator

Historian and translator.

Dahlia

Wife of Élise Mabiala

Wife of Élise Mabiala.

Raphaël

Instrument maker and sculptor of acoustic form

Instrument maker and sculptor of acoustic form.

Janelle

Raphaël’s wife

He came back at eleven thirty-one with two coffees because he had forgotten Janelle was not coming until afternoon.

Doriane

Audio editor · child in the Raphaël and Janelle family grouping

Audio editor · child in the Raphaël and Janelle family grouping.

Micah

Child in the Raphaël and Janelle family grouping

Child in the Raphaël and Janelle family grouping.

Armand

Armand Veyre.

Lucie

Odette’s mother

“Odette was our cousin,” Camille said. “Our mothers were sisters. Odette’s mother was Lucie. Ours was Estelle.”

Ellis

Naomi’s former husband

Present day, Atlanta.

Patrice

Denise’s cousin

Present day, Louisiana.

Rose

Isabel’s daughter

“There she had a daughter, Rose. Later, a son, Julien.”

Louise

Rose’s daughter

Louise, daughter of Rose.

Mireille — Naomi’s grandmother

Naomi’s grandmother

Twentieth-century family lineage.

Estelle

Camille’s mother

“Odette was our cousin,” Camille said. “Our mothers were sisters. Odette’s mother was Lucie. Ours was Estelle.”

Augustin

Camille’s father

Their father, Augustin, died in nineteen forty-three. A short illness, Camille said, though short was a word that meant different things to the person in the bed and the people beside it. Gabriel was fourteen. He had loved his father with a boy's absolute faith in the permanence of a grown man.

Marianne

Camille’s grandmother

“Our grandmother Marianne told us what her mother had told her. There were papers. Some survived. Some we lost. And there are things we have seen that I will not pretend to explain.”

Célestine

Nicolas’s daughter

Célestine, daughter of Adèle.

Elias

Marianne’s father

Célestine met Elias over a chair that had been repaired badly before being handed to him to repair properly.

Adèle

Louise’s daughter

Adèle, daughter of Louise.

Nicolas

Adèle’s husband

Marries Adèle 1833.

Éloïse

Basile’s love from 1812

Basile’s love from 1812.

Joseph

Basile’s father

Rose’s partner, alive 1804.

Laurent

Rose’s father

The child's father had a laugh that began in his shoulders. His name was Laurent. He had been born on the island, had a gift for finding edible things in places other people had dismissed, and had once made Isabel so angry that Agathe refused to hear either side of the argument.

Pascal

Julien’s father

Sold away before Julien’s birth in 1762.

Miguel

Isabel’s husband

Isabel’s husband before taking in 1753.

Beatriz

Isabel’s mother

Kongo, mid-eighteenth century.

Tomás

Isabel’s father

Kongo.

Domingos

Beatriz’s son

Domingos, ten and perpetually hungry, came running with news of something he had seen farther down the path. He began three sentences before finishing any of them.

Luzia

António’s mother

Kongo.

António / Étienne

Luzia’s son

Her son was called António.

Agathe

Saint-Domingue

Saint-Domingue.

Manette

Saint-Domingue, 1750s onward

Saint-Domingue, 1750s onward.

Ana, called Cécile by enslavers

Madeleine’s mother

The woman people called Cécile had been called Ana by her mother.

Madeleine — Ana’s foster daughter

Ana’s daughter

Age uncertain.

Cécile — Madeleine’s daughter

Madeleine’s daughter

"The woman in the other account," Marise said, "is called Cécile. The copy associates her with a girl described as her daughter. But that relationship may be the copyist's conclusion. We need to see what came before it."

Bettine Desroches

Inez’s ancestor

Bettine.

Émeline

Bettine’s daughter

Émeline.

Daniel

Émeline’s father

Sold away after Émeline’s birth.

Jeannette

Bettine’s mother

Jeannette had been laboring through the dark in a room where every other sound seemed indecently unconcerned with the work of bringing a child into it. A cart passed. Someone laughed outside. A man demanded something from another dwelling and became angry when the answer did not arrive quickly enough.

Michel

Bettine’s father

Louisiana-born.

Sira

Jeannette’s mother

African home, region not established.

Marguerite Beaumont

Free Black boardinghouse keeper in her fifties in 1810

Free Black boardinghouse keeper in her fifties in 1810.

Théodore Rivet

Free Black writer, thirty-eight in 1810

Free Black writer, thirty-eight in 1810.

Armand Veyre

1810 New Orleans

1810 New Orleans.

Henriette

1918 New Orleans

1918 New Orleans.

Madeleine Renaud

Jules’s mother

Thirty-nine in 2027, near Lafayette.

Hélène

Madeleine’s mother

Adopted.

Amélie

Fourteen in 2027

Fourteen in 2027.

Jules

Amélie’s brother

Eleven in 2027.

Benoît

Jules’s father

Present-day Louisiana.

Pêche

Present-day cat

Present-day cat.

Marise Delva

Late forties, Montreal area

Late forties, Montreal area.

Colette Jean-Baptiste

Seventy-two, Montreal

Seventy-two, Montreal.

Pauline Arnaud

Sixty-eight, Montreal area

Sixty-eight, Montreal area.

Sophie

Pauline’s daughter

Pauline’s daughter.

Mireille — Pauline’s living friend

Present day, Montreal area

Present day, Montreal area.

Lucien Sorel

French dealer in his fifties

French dealer in his fifties.

Adrien Vautrin

Estate representative, younger than Sorel

Estate representative, younger than Sorel.

Malcolm Reid

Present-day collector

Present-day collector.

Samira

Present-day alteration worker

Present-day alteration worker.

Claire

Present-day contact in Book Two

Present-day contact in Book Two.

Adélaïde

Élise’s mother

Living in France.

Corinne Auguste

Forty-three, Louisiana

Forty-three, Louisiana.

Nolan Price

Twenty-six, New Orleans

Twenty-six, New Orleans.

Josiah Benton

Fifty-eight, Louisiana

Fifty-eight, Louisiana.

Ben

Present-day contractor coworker

Present-day contractor coworker.

Inez Robichaux

Fifty-six, Baton Rouge

Fifty-six, Baton Rouge.

Yvette Coleman

Present-day Louisiana

Present-day Louisiana.

Armand — Lucie’s son

Odette’s older brother

Armand Veyre.

Célian

Armand’s son

Lucie. Odette's older brother Armand, who left New Orleans, returned, left again, and remained present in family stories mostly through arguments over whether he had ever learned to arrive on time. His son Célian. Raphaël.

Elvire

Raphaël’s mother

Sabine asked about Elvire, his mother, who lived near family in South Carolina and had been informed only that there was a problem at the studio because Raphaël wanted one conversation at a time.