Top Ten Tuesday: Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book

Posted on by The Book Lover's Sanctuary

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics

I am not entirely sold on this topic: there have been too many cheap re-hashes of existing novels, claiming to be original by being from a different point of view. I might sigh dramatically in despair as I point out Suzanne Collins’ A Ballad of Songbird and Snakes, or E. L. James… or for that matter Disney’s Cruella and Maleficent…

That said, when done well, when the right character is chosen, we get gems like Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. And the propulsion of a minor character into their own novel is the identifying quirk of the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French.

So, who might I put forward?

Boo Radley, To Kill a Mockingbird

Boo Radley is the bogey man of Scout and Jem’s childhood and takes the starring role in so many of their games, stories and imaginations but is barely glimpsed until the final moments.

A great writer recreating his story, allowing Boo to reclaim his narrative from those small town myths would be fantastic!

Edmund, King Lear

My favourite Shakespeare play; my favourite Shakespeare character.

Edmund the bastard, conniving to oust his weaker legitimate brother, a cuckoo in the proverbial nest, has one of the all time greatest soliloquies in Shakespeare and absolutely has a story to tell.

Nelly Dean, Wuthering Heights

Of course, Nelly does take over the narrative duties at one point in the novel anyway, but it is still absolutely Heathcliff’s story she is telling.

As confidante of both Heathcliff and Cathy, as long term resident of Wuther Heights, her version of the story could be fascinating – a grounded foil to the melodramatic excesses of Bronte’s protagonists.

And what was Nelly’s story? Where did she come from? What great loves and passions simmered in her breast?

Mr Bennett, Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is so iconic, I think most of the sisters have been co-opted into their own books, haven’t they?

But the unlikely pairing of Mr and Mrs Bennett… how would that courtship ever happen?

Bill Sikes, Oliver Twist

Oh he’s a bad ‘un is Bill Sikes – but I couldn’t help but feel he was a victim of a situation rather than inherently evil. The moment when he kills Nancy is appalling, but his inability to look at her, his being haunted by her… there is a heart and a humanity somewhere in him still, isn’t there?

Albert, Mort, Hogfather (and elsewhere in The Discworld)

Most of Pratchett’s minor characters could have filled this list but I do have a soft spot for the curmudgeonly Albert – Alberto Malich to give him his full name – who inadvertently transported himself to Death’s door and has been looking after him ever since.

The Unseen University Librarian, The Light Fantastic (and elsewhere in The Discworld)

He’s a wizard. He’s a librarian. He’s an orangutan who refused to return to human form.

“Ook”.

Need I say more?

Rosie, The Rosie Project Trilogy

Rosie was such a fun, vibrant character when she was introduced in the first book in the series – the perfect foil to the neurodivergent-coded Don Tillman – that her being sidelined into a barely-there character in her own series felt terribly unfair!

Old Mrs. Hempstock, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Old Mrs. Hempstock went over to a cupboard, and took out several colorful vases. “Old enough,” she said. “I remember when the moon was made.”

“Hasn’t there always been a moon?”

“Bless you. Not in the slightest. I remember the day the moon came. We looked up in the sky—it was all dirty brown and sooty gray here then, not green and blue . . .”

I am a sucker for an ancient, timeless eternal character and Old Mrs Hempstock could guide us through a wealth of myth and history.

Louise Munroe, The Jackson Brodie series

The final person to arrive (“This is actually my day off,” he heard her say to someone) was a detective, a woman, with more attitude than manners. She gave him her card, which had printed on it DETECTIVE SERGEANT LOUISE MONROE, the “Sergeant” crossed out in Biro and replaced with a handwritten “Inspector.” He thought that was quite funny. A newly minted inspector. He hoped she didn’t have anything to prove. She also asked if he had been drinking.

She was pretty, sort of. Her mouth was a little too big for her face and her nose a little too small and she had a crooked front tooth, but she was still pretty. Sort of. Late thirties, dark hair, dark eyes, Jackson had never had much luck with blondes. Her hair was in a bob, neat and practical, and she tucked it behind her ears every so often in a gesture that Jackson always found appealing.

I loved Louise Munroe and Jackson Brodie in both One Good Turn and When Will There Be Good News? She does have a very significant role in both and we learn – as always with Atkinson – so much about her that makes her feel beautifully real and credible and if you argued that she was a deuteragonist rather than a secondary character, I wouldn’t really disagree.

But, I’d love to hear more of her and her life in Edinburgh: she was one of the few women who you felt could have been a genuine foil to Jackson Brodie.

Upcoming Top Ten Tuesday Themes

October 3: Reading Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year (We’ve just begun the last quarter of the year! What bookish goals would you still like to accomplish? If you participated in TTT’s Bookish Goals for 2023 topic this past January, update us on which goals you’ve achieved, which you’ve given up on, and which ones you’re still working on!)
October 10: Bookish Jobs I Would Do For Free (Real or Imaginary) (Submitted by Susan @ Bloggin’ bout Books)
October 17: Books with Weather Events in the Title/on the Cover (I’m picturing a list of titles with weather-related words in them like storm, rain, blizzard, flood, lightning, hail, snow, wind, etc. OR covers with lightning/storms in the picture.)
October 24: Atmospheric Books (The Novelry explains this concept as: “A novel feels atmospheric when the setting and the narrative are deeply involved with one another; when characters and plot are physically embedded in their surroundings, and a near-tangible mood lifts from the pages and wraps itself around the reader.” Study.com explains that, “The atmosphere is how a writer constructs their piece to convey feelings, emotions, and mood to the reader. The atmosphere in literature might be tense, fast-paced, mysterious, spooky, whimsical, or joyful and can be found in poetry, stories, novels, and series.”)
October 31: Halloween Freebie

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