Dramatis personae

Cousin

Married to a wealthy metalworker. She lives in Cripplegate. Obsessed with status and fashion. Useful for knowing what the noblewomen are wearing this season.

Alewife/Neighbor

Brews ale from her house two doors past the conduit on Cheapside. Her front room is where the women of the street gather after None to buy a jug and trade news. Margery knows who owes whom, whose husband is straying, and which merchants are about to go under. Her ale is thin but her information is reliable. Alice stops by when she needs to hear what is really happening in the ward.

Confessor

Priest at St. Mary-le-Bow. Smells of old incense. Tries to get you to donate candles.

Apprentice

12 years old. Clumsy with thread but eager. You are teaching her the trade.

Friend

Wife of a cobbler on Milk Street, two doors down. Alice's age. Loud, warm, a reliable source of neighbourhood gossip and the only person on Cheapside who makes Alice laugh without trying. She brings hot pottage when Alice forgets to eat. Alice would never admit how much she relies on her.

Mother

A former silkwoman who taught you the trade. Sharp-eyed, critical of your weaving tension, but fiercely protective. Lives in the dower house of her late husband.

Complicated

A widowed ale-brewer from Wood Street, three years older than Alice. Steady, self-possessed, maddening. He looks at her in a way she notices and refuses to dwell on. They talk about business. They are not talking about business.

Father

A minor Mercer who died of a fever five years ago. He left you the shop but no money. You visit his grave at St Mary-le-Bow.