April 2025 Author’s Video for John Banville

 

April 2025

John Banville

April in Spain

Character List for April in Spain

Quirke’s Family and Associates

Dr. Quirke—an Irish state pathologist; Quirke was “rescued” from an orphanage by Judge Garrett Griffin and wife when he was young and raised as their son (although it appears he never took the Griffin name)

Dr. Evelyn Blake Quirke—Quirke’s second wife and a professional psychiatrist; she’s Austrian and the widow of a “sometime colleague” of Quirke

Phoebe Griffin—Quirke’s daughter by his first wife, who died when Phoebe was quite young, so Phoebe was raised by Quirke’s “sister” and thought Quirke was her uncle for most of her childhood; she is in her late 20s

Dr. Paul Viertel—Evelyn’s nephew and Phoebe’s boyfriend

The Latimers and Associates

Dr. Angela Lawless/April Latimer—seemingly, a doctor at the hospital in the Spanish town where Quirke and Evelyn are vacationing, but Quirke soon suspects her to be the “dead” friend of his daughter

Dr. Jeronimo Cruz—another doctor at the hospital, who despite his age seems to be Lawless’s boyfriend

Oscar Latimer—April’s brother, who confessed to murdering her and then killed himself by driving Quirke’s car over a cliff

Conor Latimer—Oscar and April’s father, a hero of the 1916 Rising and later a successful heart surgeon, who is rumored to have sexually molested both Oscar and April

William “Bill” Latimer—current Minister of Defense; Conor’s brother and Oscar and April’s uncle

The Assassin and Associates

Terry Tice—aka Pinkie; an Irish orphan, ex-British Navy seaman, and sometime drifter who does “fixing” for those who can afford him

Percival “Percy” Antrobus—an aristocrat-adjacent gentleman who recognizes Tice’s potential and introduces him to people who need jobs done; Percy seems to live off an inheritance from his mother (deceased, thanks to Tice)

Dublin Officials and Associates

Detective Chief Superintendent Hackett—head of police detectives and an associate of Quirke to whom Phoebe Griffin appeals for advice on whether to travel to Spain

Detective Inspector St. John Strafford—the police detective that Hackett assigns to accompany Phoebe to Spain

Ned Gallagher—a civil servant in the office of the Taoiseach (the head of government; the Irish equivalent of a prime minister) who is known to some members of the government as “the fixer’s fixer”; Bill Latimer pressures him to “deal with” the problem of April’s possible reappearance

Lenny Marks—an illegal arms dealer to whom Gallagher entrusts the hiring of a person to “deal with” the problem of April; Marks hires Tice

Dick “Fitz” FitzMaurice—the Chief Whip of the Dáil (lower house of Irish legislature) who investigates the events in Spain and metes out consequences for Gallagher and Bill Latimer