Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of violence, suicide, sexual assault, enslavement, physical and emotional abuse, antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ+ bias, and murder.

Beverly is the protagonist of the novel. She is the head of the school board in Troy. She is in her forties and has a more broad-minded attitude compared to many of her neighbors. As a descendant of General Augustus Wainwright, she has long been regarded as a pillar of the community. In high school, she was the captain of the varsity cheerleading squad. Lula Dean despises Beverly, a conviction that began when the women were adolescents.

Unlike many of her neighbors, Beverly protests Lula’s book-banning campaign, but she refuses to directly challenge Lula for fear of exposing her daughter, who is a lesbian, to ostracism by the town’s conservative citizens. As the novel progresses, Beverly grows increasingly concerned by the intolerance she witnesses in her fellow citizens. She is also concerned about the hero worship directed at her ancestor, Augustus Wainwright, after discovering that he raped Black enslaved women and there are many Black descendants of him due to this sexual violence. She hates her blood kinship with a murdering rapist, but she comes to recognize the heroism of the unknown female line of the family and decides to emulate the bravery of these survivors.