The characters in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy appear in a group of three fantasy novels by Libba Bray, which are set in late 19th-century England, and published between 2003 and 2007: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing. Leading characters include Gemma Doyle herself, who is able to enter the magical "Realms"; Ann Bradshaw, Felicity Worthington and Pippa Cross, Gemma's fellow-students at the boarding school Spence Academy; some of the staff at that school, including the evil "Circe"; and members of "The Order", a secret society. Male characters include Kartik and other members of the "Rakshana". There are also characters drawn from upper-class English society. Supernatural beings play an important role in the story—centaurs and forest people, a Gorgon, lost souls called "Winterland creatures" and "Trackers", and the skeletal "Poppy Warriors".
Protagonists
Gemma Doyle
Gemma Doyle (born in Shropshire, June 21, 1879) is the heroine of Libba Bray's novels A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing. She is described as being rather tall, taller than most of her peers, with "pale" skin, a "decent" profile, and "a straight nose and a good jaw".Bray, Libba. Rebel Angels What differentiates her most from others is perhaps her mane of red hair and brilliant green eyes, two assets that she inherited from her mother.
Life Gemma lived most of her life in India. In June 1895, Gemma's mother, Virginia Doyle, is killed after hearing that someone named Circe is near, leaving Gemma with her strange amulet in the shape of the Crescent Eye. The Doyle family moves back to England. Gemma, then only sixteen, is sent to Spence Academy rather abruptly. Her first friend there is roommate and scholarship student Ann Bradshaw, and shortly after, she meets witty and wealthy Felicity Worthington and the beautiful, but shallow, Pippa Cross, at that time Felicity's best friend. All four girls strike up a rather unconventional relationship as they find themselves entangled in the mysterious Order.
Shortly after the death of her mother, Gemma starts having strange visions that show her frightening images. Kartik, a member of the Rakshana who is supposedly protecting her, tells her she is a member of the Order, just like her mother. From her visions, Gemma is able to navigate herself and her friends into a strange world called the realms, where they have absolute power over everything. It is in the realms that she meets up with what she believes to be her dead mother, and the two devise a plan to defeat Circe, an evil member of the Order who wishes to take the power away from Gemma, and her ruthless assassins. However, the power of the Order lies within their ability to make illusions, and Gemma soon realizes that the mother she meets in the realms is not the mother she knew during her lifetime. She discovers from a diary that Virginia Doyle is actually Mary Dowd, who, along with her best friend, Sarah Rees-Toome, became entangled in the power that the realms, the Winterlands, and the Order offered them. While Mary escaped and was reborn as Virginia, her greatest friend, Sarah, turned into Circe. The illusion of Virginia Doyle is destroyed in A Great and Terrible Beauty along with Circe's assassin in a fight with Gemma, but in the process, Pippa decides against returning to the mortal worlds and Gemma leaves her behind, effectively killing her. At the end of the next novel, Rebel Angels, Gemma has a new mission—to piece together a new Order, one free of corruption and with new members, much to the chagrin of former Order priestesses like Claire McCleethy.
Also unique in Gemma's life is her relationship with Kartik, a member of the mysterious Rakshana who is apparently trying to protect her. In Rebel Angels, Kartik's true assignment—to have Gemma bind the magic of the realms in the name of the Rakshana, then kill her—is discovered by Gemma, who believes that he has betrayed her. Kartik, however, insists that he never would have done it and proves his honesty by helping Gemma escape the Rakshana when they imprison her, causing him to become one of their enemies and forcing him to turn his back on everything he has ever known. In the books, it is obvious that Gemma and Kartik both feel something beyond their platonic relationship, but as Kartik is Indian and Gemma is a proper English young lady, she would be sacrificing her and her family's reputation if she chooses to be with him.
In The Sweet Far Thing Gemma and Kartik finally admit their feelings and have a romantic relationship. As a result, Kartik agrees to let Gemma show him the realms. They place their hands inside a special circle in the Cave of Sighs, giving them the ability to appear in the other's dreams. It is inferred that they make love for the first time. During the battle with The Tree Of All Souls, Gemma is stabbed by Amar and her blood is spilled on the ground of the Winterlands, damning her to become one with the Tree. Kartik gives up his life in exchange for Gemma's, taking her place inside of the Tree.
After making her debut, Gemma decides to move to America to live independently and attend university, instead of continuing her season with the other young ladies her age. It is revealed that she is visited in her dreams by Kartik, who waits to be reunited with her.
Throughout the series, Gemma struggles with her fears that she does not fit in anywhere and that she is not truly loved or valued by anyone. She has strained relationships with her critical grandmother, her brother, whose interests lie mainly in appearances and social climbing, and her father, who tries to avoid painful memories of his wife, Gemma's mother.
Ann Bradshaw
Ann Bradshaw (born c. 1879), along with Gemma Doyle, Felicity Worthington, and Pippa Cross, is one of the lead characters of Libba Bray's novels A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing.
Annie (Ann) Bradshaw's name comes from Hebrew; it means "favored grace". Her surname, Bradshaw, means "from the broad forest." In Rebel Angels, Gemma, Felicity, and Ann make anagrams of their names. Ann's name becomes Nan Washbrad; she is the only one of the girls whose anagram "sounds like an actual name."The Sweet Far Thing, Chapter 25
Ann is described as being plain—with "dull, watery eyes"Bray, Libba. A Great and Terrible Beauty—and poor which furthermore condemns her to the low class. Gemma says in more or less words that if Ann had finer features she'd have a chance to marry out of her class and avoid her fate as a governess. She has mousy brown hair and a runny nose, which she tells Gemma in A Great and Terrible Beauty is not a cold. Her heart's desire is "to be beautiful" (A Great and Terrible Beauty. Chapter 13).
Education Ann attends Spence Academy, where she has been for many years. She was sent to Spence as a "scholarship pupil" by her nouveau riche aunt and uncle who wish Ann to be well-learned; they can then employ her as an unpaid governess for their odious children. Ann managed to stay fairly invisible while at school. The only subject that she stood out in was singing; Ann proved to have a beautiful voice. She lacked the money and beauty of the other girls, and so lacked friends. She was often bullied by the other girls, especially Felicity Worthington, and Pippa Cross. In 1895, however, when Ann was fifteen, a new girl came to Spence. Gemma Doyle became Ann's roommate. A friendship formed by virtue of their having no other friends and of being roommates. When Felicity came into Gemma's debt, Gemma became friends with Felicity and Pippa, under condition that they would befriend Ann, too. This relationship, first one of obligation, later became real. The girls bonded, and came to love each other. In December of that year, Felicity even took Ann home with her over Christmas break, as Ann would otherwise have had to stay at their school. There they tried to pass her off as the grand-niece of the Duke of Chesterfield but before returning home they are found out and Ann is then ruined. Ann, knowing she was poor, plain, had no future prospects, was depressed. So in secret, she would use her sewing needle to cut scratches in her wrist. But when Gemma discovers this, she makes Ann swear to stop cutting herself.
Ann has a crush on Tom Doyle from the first moment they meet in the first book and those feelings are very briefly matched in Rebel Angels, until Tom finds out she is not a rich and grand lady like she portrayed.
In the third book she disguises herself in magic and becomes the beautiful Nan Washbrad. Ann, Gemma, and Felicity go to see Macbeth and have a chance encounter with an American actress who recommends Ann for an acting spot with Mr. Katz. When she goes to meet Mr. Katz he is thrilled with her beauty and talents. However he puts much emphasis on her pretty face and not her natural acting skills or her beautiful voice. Ann realizes that he would hire her for looks instead of her talent. Afraid that she would not be accepted as she was, she decides not to join the theatre after all, and asks for her horrible cousins to pick her up early from school and begin her life as a governess.
However, Felicity and Gemma intervene, retrieving Ann from her cousins' country house, Balmoral Spring. Ann, along with Gemma, auditions again as herself for Mr. Smalls, a composer who had worked with Mr. Katz. Pleased, he grants her a supporting role in his new musical, The Merry Maidens.The Sweet Far Thing, Chapter 71
Felicity Worthington
Felicity "Fee" Mildrade Worthington (born c. 1878) is one of the main characters in Libba Bray's novels A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing. Felicity, though not as beautiful as Pippa, is considered sensuous and physically attractive. She has small grey eyes, "framed in arched eyebrows", set "in a face so pale it's almost the color of an opal." She is also described as having white-blond hair (which is also, at times, is described as golden), full lips, and a fully developed, voluptuous figure.
Felicity's first name, ironically, means "happy". Her surname, Worthington, is Anglo-Saxon; it means "from the river's side".Baby Names, Baby Name Meanings & Origins (page 21) This makes sense, as Felicity claims that her middle name, Mildrade, is "an old family name" that "can be traced all the way back to the Saxons". Mildrade is probably a form of the Old English name Mildred, which means "gentle and strong." In Rebel Angels, Felicity, Ann, and Gemma make anagrams of their names. Felicity's is Maleficent Oddity Ralingworth. This name is declared "perfect" for Felicity—for, as Gemma says, it is "evil and odd". Before trying to make an anagram with Felicity's middle name included, the best that Ann could find was City Worth Gin If Lento and Wont Left in City Groh, neither of which would work as names.
One of Felicity's defining characteristics is her strength, both physical and emotional. However, any reminder of "weakness" she has shown in the past (for example, her father's sexual abuse of her as a child) causes her to become enraged or depressed, or both. She is constantly trying to strengthen herself, and gives her greatest desire as "to be too powerful to ignore."A Great and Terrible Beauty, Chapter 13 As such, she is the most popular girl at Spence Academy, and in A Great and Terrible Beauty often hazes Gemma and Ann as a senior would do to those younger than her.