August Boatwright

August Boatwright is the eldest of three sisters living together in Tiburon, South Carolina. She raises bees and sells their honey. The image of the Black Madonna on the honey jars leads Lily and Rosaleen to her home. In her youth, August worked as a housekeeper for Lily's mother, Deborah. Deborah stayed with the Boatwright sisters in Tiburon shortly before her death, after leaving Lily's father. August serves as the head of the Boatwright household and leads a small group of worshipers of Our Lady of Chains, a ship's masthead symbolizing the Virgin Mary and resistance to slavery. The statue, along with their vibrant pink house and beehives, were all passed down from August's grandmother, Big Mama. August's spiritual beliefs and perspective on life are deeply influenced by her beekeeping. She is also an enthusiastic reader, with her room filled with books on beekeeping, mythology, and the Virgin Mary. August shares with Lily that she once loved someone but valued her freedom too much to marry. By the novel's end, she has become a mother figure to Lily, having taken her in, provided for her, enrolled her in school, and bought her new clothes and furniture.

June Boatwright

June Boatwright is the middle sister of the Boatwright family. She plays the cello for terminally ill patients in hospitals and homes but is reserved with her emotions. June is a teacher who has struggled to commit to her long-time suitor, Neil, due to being left at the altar by a previous fiancé. Unlike her sisters, June initially resents Lily's presence in the Boatwright household. She reacts negatively when Lily, a white girl, touches Our Lady of Chains during a service. However, June eventually warms up to Lily. After May's suicide and with August's encouragement, June finally accepts Neil's marriage proposal.

May Boatwright

May Boatwright is the youngest of the Boatwright sisters. Since the tragic suicide of her twin sister, April, May has become extremely sensitive to the pain of others. Watching the evening news, for instance, can make her cry and pull at her hair. Her sisters try to shield her from any distressing news. As a therapeutic outlet, May has constructed a wailing wall in the woods behind their home; when overwhelmed, she writes prayers for those suffering on slips of paper and places them between the wall's stones. She is opposed to harming any living creature, and her habit of escorting bugs outside instead of killing them leads Lily to believe her mother once stayed at the Boatwright house. Despite her sisters' efforts to protect her, May is heartbroken when she learns of Zach's arrest. She ultimately takes her own life by using a heavy rock to hold herself underwater in a nearby stream.

Rosaleen Daise

Rosaleen Daise is an African American woman, around fifty years old (Lily notes that Rosaleen often gives different ages for herself). T. Ray Owens promoted her from field hand to caretaker of his daughter, Lily, after Lily's mother passed away. Rosaleen is a strong, assertive woman who left an unreliable husband years ago, took fans from a church on a hot day when the minister was too stingy to give them, and stood up to racists when she tried to register to vote. She is arrested and beaten while in police custody; after Lily helps her escape, they are forced to flee town, leading them to Tiburon. Initially wary of the Boatwrights' pink house, Rosaleen is quickly accepted into their community. She forms a close bond with May Boatwright, sharing with her the bedroom that May once shared with her twin sister, April. Though she sometimes grumbles about Lily's actions, Rosaleen is a devoted friend to the young girl and keeps her secrets until Lily is ready to reveal them. After settling in Tiburon, Rosaleen successfully registers to vote and proudly declares her intention to vote for President Lyndon Johnson's reelection.

Clayton Forrest

Clayton Forrest is a lawyer who sells jars of August's honey to his clients. He has taken a personal interest in Zach's aspirations to become a lawyer, welcoming the young man to visit his law office. He assists Zach when he is arrested, and his daughter, Becca, becomes friends with Lily. Clayton also helps resolve Lily and Rosaleen's legal issues in Sylvan.

Avery "Shoe" Gaston

Avery Gaston is the police officer who arrests Rosaleen and transports her and Lily to the police station. Despite being an officer of the law, Gaston permits racist men to beat Rosaleen while she is in custody.

Brother Gerald

Brother Gerald serves as the minister at Lily's place of worship, Ebenezer Baptist Church. He exhibits a significant lack of Christian compassion: he disapproves when Lily brings a black woman, Rosaleen, into the church for a rest during their journey to Sylvan and refuses to give them fans to cool off. When Rosaleen takes two fans anyway, he attempts to press charges against her.

Neil

Neil is the patient and enduring suitor of June Boatwright, who consistently rejects his marriage proposals because a previous fiancé abandoned her at the altar. Initially, Neil tries to end his relationship with June, but during the Mary Day celebration, he proposes once again. This time, June, whose perspective on life has shifted following May's suicide, finally agrees to marry him.

Lily Owens

Lily Owens, the novel's narrator, is a fourteen-year-old girl living with her father, T. Ray, on his peach farm in the small town of Sylvan, South Carolina. Troubled by her mother's death and mistreated by her harsh father, Lily escapes with her caretaker, Rosaleen, guided only by a picture of a Black Madonna that somehow connects to her deceased mother. Lily longs for the nurturing maternal figure she never had, which she finds in August Boatwright. She is also aware of her transition into young womanhood, especially in her romantic interest in August's assistant, Zach Taylor. Although Lily can sometimes be self-centered, not fully appreciating the struggles of others, she demonstrates bravery and loyalty by helping Rosaleen escape from vengeful racists. Under August's care and the beneficial effects of honey and working outdoors, Lily begins to mature. She is attracted to the worship of Our Lady of Chains as a way to fill the void she feels inside, though she is initially too self-conscious to touch the statue except alone at night. Throughout the novel, Lily discovers the motherly love she has been missing and, more importantly, realizes that a nurturing, feminine spirit already resides within her. This understanding enables her to start forgiving herself for the guilt she carries over her mother's death and to forgive her mother for abandoning her.

T. Ray Owens

T. Ray Owens is the father of Lily Owens. As a peach farmer, T. Ray is a strict, unfeeling, and often abusive parent. His preferred punishment is forcing Lily to kneel on a pile of Martha White dry grits, and he does this with minimal provocation. Lily's sole memory of her deceased mother is deeply linked to T. Ray's violent nature; her mother drew a gun to protect both herself and Lily from his attacks, but was accidentally shot during the struggle. Since his wife's death, T. Ray shows affection only towards his hunting dog, Snout. When T. Ray tracks Lily down in Tiburon, she understands that he loved her mother and was embittered by her loss. Confronted with a daughter who increasingly resembles her mother, T. Ray briefly mistakes her for Deborah. Though he regains his composure, he remains unrepentant in his bitterness. Lily interprets his permission to let her stay in Tiburon with August and Rosaleen as a final, unprecedented act of kindness.

Franklin Posey

Franklin Posey is described by T. Ray Owens as Sylvan's most infamous racist. When Rosaleen spills the juice from her snuff jug onto his shoes, Posey employs violent measures to force her to apologize.

Zach Taylor

Zach Taylor is the godson of August Boatwright and works as her assistant in her beekeeping business. An academically talented teenager, Zach develops romantic feelings for Lily, which is risky given the racial dynamics, as he is black and Lily is white. After Zach is arrested for being present when a friend of his throws a bottle at a group of white men, his resolve to become a lawyer and join the civil rights movement is strengthened. As a first step, he attends the previously segregated local high school with Lily at the beginning of the new school year. He assures Lily that one day, when societal circumstances have changed and he has made a name for himself, they will be together.