Bag of Bones
First published: 1998
Characters
Stephen King's most gripping and unforgettable novel, Bag of Bones, is a story of grief and a lost love's enduring bonds, of a new love haunted by the secrets of the past, of an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire.
Set in the Maine territory King has made mythic, Bag of Bones recounts the plight of 40-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer bear to face the blank screen of his word processor.
Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonans' isolated summer home.
He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface, but much changed underneath -- held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, who twists the very fabric of the community to his purpose: to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan?
Characters
| ?, Angelina | Snake Woman that was in Mike Noonan's dream of the early 1900's |
| ?, Audrey | Village Cafe's short order cook |
| ?, Bryn | Johanna Noonan's friend who with her on a trip to Ireland |
| ?, Florence | Mattie Stanchfield's aunt - she lived with her for 2 years when after parents died |
| ?, Francine | Mike Noonan's aunt - his mother's sister |
| ?, Kelli | Waitress in Key Largo that Mike Noonan to a liking to while on holiday there |
| ?, Nola | Harold Oblowski's Literary Agency employee |
| ?, Willy | Boy in Mike Noonan's dream of the early 1900's. Hit a baseball over the fence |
| Alpert, Dr | Patrick Noonan's doctor when he had his appendix removed |
| Amudson, Bonnie | Johanna Noonan's friend who co-owned a travel agency in Augusta |
| Arlen, Frank | Johanna's oldest brother who was 50 in 1994. He organised Johanna's funeral for Mike |
| Arlen, Mr | Johanna's father, spoke at Johanna's funeral |
| Arlen, Mrs | Johanna's mother |
| Arlen, Nick | Johanna's brother |
| Arlen, Peter | Johanna's youngest brother |
| Arlen, Victor | Johanna's second youngest brother |
| Armbruster, George | Worked with Jared Devore and was one of the group that raped and murdered Sara Tidwell |
| Auster, Benton | Bridget Auster's husband and father of Harry Auster |
| Auster, David | Kenny Auster's son and brother of Kisha, born 1970 |
| Auster, Harry | Part of the group that raped and murdered Sara Tidwell and also the one that murdered Kito Tidwell. Son of Bridget and Benton, and father of Normal. Born 1885 |
| Auster, Helen | Kenny's wife and co-owner of Slips 'n Greens garden supplies |
| Auster, Kenny | Lived near Dark Score Lake and owned Blueberry the dog. Husband of Helen, brother of Kerry and father of David and Kisha. Born 1940 |
| Auster, Kerry | Normal Auster's son, born 1943 and drowned by his father in 1945 |
| Auster, Kisha | Kenny Auster's daughter and sister of David who was born 1974 and then adopted out |
| Auster, Normal | Kenny and Kerry' father and son of Harry Auster, born in 1915. Drowned his son Kerry and then committed suicide with a shotgun |
| Avery, ? | Partner in a law firm Avery, McLain and Bernstein that employed John Storrow |
| Babickis, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Bannerman, Nehemiah | Castle County sheriff circa 1901 |
| Banning, Patty | Went to school Johanna Arlen and called her a Booger-Hooker |
| Batchelder, ? | Owners of a summer camp on Dark Score Lake |
| Beaumont, Thaddeus (Thad) | Writer also known as George Stark who committed suicide in Castle Rock. He wrote the book "Steel Machine" |
| Belliveau, Sonia | Owner of the car that was stolen and used when Mattie Devore was shot and killed |
| Bernstein, ? | Partner in a law firm Avery, McLain and Bernstein that employed John Storrow |
| Bissonette, Romeo (Rommie) | Lawyer from Lewiston hired for Mike Noonan by John Storrow |
| Blindermeyer, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Bliss, Gerry | Stenographer in the custody hearing for Kyra Devore |
| Blueberry | Kenny Auster's Irish Wolfhound dog |
| Bowden, Kissy | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Bowie, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Breedlove, Denise | Pete Breedlove's mother |
| Breedlove, Pete | Cut the Noonan's grass and sang at the funeral of Johanna Noonan. Denise Breedlove's son |
| Brickers, ? | Previous owners of the Washburn house on Dark Score lake |
| Briggs, Lindy | Bill Dean's sister-in-law and head librarian at Four Lakes library where she works alongside Mattie Devore |
| Brokaw, Tom | Mentioned in passing |
| Brooks, Richard Jr (Dick) | Owner of the Garage in Lakeview |
| Bundy, Adria | Girl in Nu You health gym that took a liking to Mike Noonan |
| Bunter | Nickname given to the moose head by Johanna, over the fireplace at Sara Laughs |
| Bunter, ? | Character in a novel by Sayer. Butler of Lord Peter Wimsey |
| Carville, Dennison | Mike Noonan's creative writing teacher |
| Chaney, Lon | Mentioned in passing |
| Croce, Jim | Mentioned in Passing |
| Croyden, Mr | Drunk in Dark Score Lake that Brenda Meserve used to clean house for |
| Cullum, Arlene | Looked after Kyra Devore when her mother was working |
| Dahmer, Jeffrey | Murderer mentioned in passing |
| Danvers, Mrs | Mentioned by Mike Noonan in a dream, who he was afraid of, although she is not a real person |
| Day, Douglas | Owned the meadow that Sara Tidwell bought |
| Dean, Carla | Bill Dean's twin sister who was murdered by their father Fred at 3 years old |
| Dean, Fred | Bill and Carla's father who was seen in Mike Noonan's dream of the early 1900's, and was one of those involved in the rape and murder of Sara Tidwell |
| Dean, Hilda | Fred's wife and mother of William and Carla |
| Dean, William (Bill) | Caretaker of Sara Laughs |
| Dean, Yvette | Bill Dean's wife who liked Mike Noonan's books |
| Dearsey, Irene |
An elderly woman from Barrett's |
| DeCinces, Carla | Worked at Lakeview General post office |
| Delancey, Cam | Character in Mike Noonan's "All the Way from the top" |
| DeMille, Nelson | Writer that wrote The Charm School |
| Denbrough, William (Stuttering Bill) | Writer liked by Johanna Noonan |
| Devore, Jared Lancelot | Great Grandfather? of Max Devore who was seen in Mike Noonan's dream of the early 1900's and was the ringleader involved in the rape and murder of Sara Tidwell |
| Devore, Kyra Elizabeth | Three year old daughter of Mattie and Lance Devore, saved by Mike Noonan when she was walking to the beach up the middle of the road. The centre of a custody battle between her mother and grandfather |
| Devore, Lance | Mattie's husband, Kyra's father and son of Max Devore who died in 1997 of a broken neck when he fell from a roof |
| Devore (nee Stanchfield), Mary (Mattie) | Kyra's mother, married to Lance Devore until he died. Worked at the library |
| Devore, Maxwell | Crazy multi-millionaire that lived on Dark Score Lake. The father of Lance and owner of a computer company called Visions who committed suicide |
| Devore, Roger | Homosexual son of Max Devore. "married" to Morris Ridding |
| Devore, Rogette | Max Devore's daughter who was thought to be in a mental asylum but had actually taken the name of Rogette Whitmore (mothers maiden name) and worked for her father as his personal assistant. She had leukaemia, and this, plus the wig she wore, made her look a lot older than she really was |
| Donahue, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Donahue, Susy | Nick Arlen's sister-in-law who made a pass at Mike Noonan at a Christmas Party after Johanna Noonan had died |
| Drake, Andy | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Dubay, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Dunbarry, Jill | Witnessed the car accident between William Fraker and Esther Esterling |
| Durgin, Elmer | Castle Rock Attorney who worked for Durgin, Peters and Jarrette and was appointed as Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem. Father of 7 children |
| Dvorak, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Emerson, Hugh | Owner of the the Warrington Lodge until he sold it to Max Devore |
| Esterling, Esther | Elderly woman from Barrett's Orchards who was driving a car involved in an accident with William Fraker, the one that Johanna Noonan died while running to |
| Failles, Harold | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through - the 19th name on the 19th page |
| Felton, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Fenner, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Filkersham, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Finney, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Finney, Draper | Part of the group that raped and murdered Sara Tidwell who died of a broken neck in 1902 after falling down a cliff while drunk |
| Flaherty, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Floss, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Footman, George Randolph | Castle County deputy sheriff who shot and Killed Mattie Devore and now resides in Shawshank Prison |
| Fournier, Doreen | Mike Noonan's girlfriend when he was 16 |
| Fraker, Mrs | William's wife |
| Fraker, William (Bill) | Public Works employee involved in the car accident with Ether Esterling, the one that Johanna Noonan died while running to |
| Framingham, Kenneth P | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Garraty, Raymond | Character in Mike Noonan's latest novel "My Childhood Friend" |
| Gauguin, Paul | Likened to Charles Strickland in a Maugham book "The moon and the sixpence" |
| Geary, Helen | Mattie Devore's friend who had twins |
| Goldacre, ? | Harold Oblowski's lawyer who deals mainly with contracts law |
| Gooch, ? | Reverend who married Mattie and Lance Devore in the Grace Baptist Church |
| Grann, Phyllis | Putman Publishers employee and helped Mike Noonan with problems with Harold Oblowski |
| Hando | Dog faced Boy who was in Mike Noonan's dream of the early 1900's |
| Hankins, Ward | Did the taxes for Mike Noonan in Waterville |
| Harriman, ? | Owner of a house on Dark Score Lake |
| Hingerman, Darren | Previous owner of Sara Laughs and husband of Marie who died in 1971 |
| Hingerman, Marie | Previous owner of Sara Laughs and wife of Darren |
| Hopper, Edward | Artist. Mattie Devore had one of his prints in her trailer |
| Hughes, Howard | Compared to Max Devore |
| Jalbert, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Jarrette, ? | Castle Rock Attorney who worked for Durgin, Peters and Jarrette |
| Jayhouse, T | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Jefferson, Blind Lemon | Blues singer that sang one of the songs written by Sara Tidwell |
| Jellison, Buddy | Lived near Dark Score Lake and ran the Village Cafe |
| Kennedy, Frieda | George's wife and a fan of Mike Noonan's books |
| Kennedy, George | Private detective, worked for a security company and moonlit as a detective who was hired by Mike Noonan's lawyer to find out information on Max Devore |
| Larribee, Scant | Father of Scooter Larribee,who had his tackle shed broken into by Max Devore when he wanted his son's flexible flier |
| Larribee, Scooter | Scant's son and owner of the infamous flexible flier |
| Larribee, Timmy | Kenny Auster's cousin who cleaned the outside walls of Sara Laughs |
| Lassie | Breck Pellerin's collie dog |
| Lattimore, Richie | Lance Devore's best friend |
| Laughs, Sara | Sara Tidwell's nickname during part of her career and name of the house owned by the Noonans |
| LeRoux, Al | At the fire of Dark Score Lake in the 1930's |
| McCoy, Jenna | Helen Geary's friend |
| McCurdie, J M | Owner of the sawmill that burned down in 1933 |
| McLain, ? | Partner in a law firm Avery, McLain and Bernstein that employed John Storrow |
| Merrill, Ben | Royce's father and one of the group that raped and murdered Sara Tidwell |
| Merrill, Royce | Oldest man (at 90) of Dark Score Lake (Oldest man), a retired carpenter, with no children whose funeral was on the day Mattie was killed |
| Meserve, Brenda | Cleaner hired to supervise the cleaning at Sara Laughs |
| Meserve, G | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Meserve, Ila | Oldest resident in the area after Royce Merrill died |
| Messier, V | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Millhone, Kinsey | An character name thought of by Mike Noonan |
| Moore, Kenneth | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Moran, Mrs | Mike Noonan's first grade teacher |
| Munch, Edvard | Artist that drew "The Cry". This painting's name is actually "The Scream" |
| Munter, Kenneth | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Nearing, Helen | Lead Character in Mike Noonan's "Helen's Promise" |
| Noonan, ? | Sid and Mike Noonan's mother and 66 year old sister of Francine |
| Noonan (Auster), Bridget (Bridey) | James Noonan's sister, born 1866 |
| Noonan, Jack | Mike and Sid's father and son of Paul Noonan. A lobster man, born 1920, who died of cancer. He owned a boat called "Lazy Betty" that was sold in 1963 |
| Noonan, James | Great-great grandfather of Mike Noonan, father of Paul Noonan and brother of Bridget Noonan, born 1868 |
| Noonan (nee Arlen), Johanna | Mike Noonan's wife, died of a brain aneurysm while running to a car accident in August 1994 and was pregnant at the time she died |
| Noonan, Kia Jane | Name that was to be given to the unborn child of Michael and Johanna Noonan |
| Noonan, Michael | Johanna Noonan's husband, born 1958, son of Jack Noonan. A reporter for the Derry News before becoming a novelist, and living on Benton St in Derry. Owned a house on Dark Score Lake |
| Noonan, Patrick | Sid Noonan's son who had an appendectomy in February 1994 |
| Noonan, Paul | Jack Noonan's father, born 1892 and son of James Noonan |
| Noonan, Sid | Mike Noonan's brother and son of Jack, born 1956 and went on to become an accountant |
| Oblowski, Harold | Mike Noonan's literary agent |
| O'Quindlan, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Osgood, Richard | Real estate broker who spied on Mattie Devore for Max and also drove the car when George Footman shot and killed Mattie Devore. Burned to death when he could not get out of the car after it caught fire |
| Osteen, Edward | Wrote a history of Dark Score Lake in about 1965 called "Dark Score Days" and later died of cancer |
| Pangborn, Alan J | County sheriff until Norris Ridgewick took over and was married to Polly, now lives in New Hampshire |
| Pangborn (nee Chalmers), Patricia (Polly) |
Alan Pangborn's wife who suffers from severe arthritis |
| Paretti, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Passendale, ? | Owners of a house on Dark Score Lake |
| Peebles, Oren | Part of the group that raped and murdered Sara Tidwell |
| Pelkey, ? | Local person at Dark Score lake thought of by Mike Noonan |
| Pellerin, Breck | Owner of Lassie. who worked at the Castle County airport |
| Perrault, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Peters, ? | Castle Rock Attorney who worked for Durgin, Peters and Jarrette |
| Pillsbury, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Proulx, Lila | Co-Owner of Slips 'n Greens garden supplies |
| Proulx, Stan | Collected garbage from the houses along Dark Score lake |
| Quinlan, Mark | Manager of Fidelity Union bank where Mike Noonan had a safe deposit box |
| Quinlan, Mrs | Mark's wife - she read Mike Noonan's books |
| Rancort, ? | Judge who appointed Elmer Durgin as Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem |
| Randall, Tony | Mentioned in passing. Had his age compared to Max Devore |
| Rennie, Kito | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Ridding, Morris | "Married" to Roger Devore |
| Ridgewick, Norris | Castle County Sheriff who approached Mike Noonan after the storm to see if he had Kyra Devore with him |
| Rimer, ? | Owned a house on Dark Score Lake |
| Roberts, Lois | Ralph Roberts's wife |
| Roberts, Ralph | Volunteer at the Red Cross and Lois's husband |
| Rockwell, Norman | Mentioned in passing |
| Rosencrief, Ted | Retired Navy man that sometimes helped Mike Noonan with research for his novels who lived in Derry |
| Sanborn, John | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Sanders, George | Mentioned in passing |
| Sayer, ? | Wrote novels starring Lord Peter Wimsey |
| Scarpella, Kay | An character name that was thought of by Mike Noonan |
| Shackelford, John | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Skate, ? | Character in Mike Noonan's "Helen's Promise" |
| Smolnack, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Spruce, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Stanchfield, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Stanchfield, Dave | Mattie's father, a pulper who drowned in Kewadin pond |
| Stanchfield, Hugh | Mattie's brother |
| Stanchfield, Mrs | Mattie's mother who died when she drowned in her own vomit when drunk |
| Stanwyck, Barbara | Mentioned in passing |
| Starbird, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Stark, George | The pseudonym Thad Beaumont used when writing the Machine novels |
| Stevenson, Will | Helped when Mattie Devore was supposed to be given 80 million in Max Devore's will |
| Storrow, John | Worked for a law firm Avery, McLain and Bernstein and took the custody case for Mattie Devore |
| Strickland | Name that was given to Kyra Devore's toy dog |
| Taylor, Regina | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Taylor, Tiffany | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Therriault, ? | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Therriault, Barney | Cindy Therriault's husband |
| Therriault, Cindy | Barney's wife and a friend of Mattie |
| Therriault, Roland | Rolanda's brother who went to school with Brenda Meserve |
| Therriault, Rolanda | Roland's sister who went to school with Brenda Meserve |
| Tidwell, Kito | Sara Tidwell's son, murdered by drowning in Dark Score Lake when he caught the men raping his mother and buried with her by the same men |
| Tidwell, Reg Jr | Reginald Tidwell's son who died of blood poisoning when he was caught in an animal trap in 1901 |
| Tidwell, Reginald (Sonny) | Guitar player in Sara Tidwell's blues band and Reg Jr's father |
| Tidwell, Sara | Built cabins on the shore of Dark Score lake and was also a Negro Blues singer, around the turn of the century, also known as Sara Laughs. She was raped, murdered and buried on the shores of Dark Score Lake |
| Toothaker, ? | Local person on Dark Score lake thought of by Mike Noonan |
| Turgeon, Billy | Kyra Devore's friend at Bible school |
| Ubeck, Alton | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Udell, Catherine | Listed in the phonebook Mike Noonan looked through |
| Underwood, Steffie | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Underwood, Towle | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Washburn, Lars | Closest neighbour of Mike Noonan at Sarah Laughs |
| Washburn, Mrs | Lars Washburn's wife |
| Weinstock, Debra | Mike Noonan's editor |
| Weyland, Anthony | Lived on Dark Score Lake |
| Whiting, Karen | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Whiting, Regina | Character in Mike Noonan's new book "My Childhood Friend" |
| Whitmore, ? | Maiden name of Max Devore's wife |
| Wiggins, Butch | Lived near Dark Score Lake |
| Wilson, Sloan | Mentioned in passing |
| Wimsey, Lord Peter | Character in a novel by Sayer |
| Wing, General | Drove the Micmac indians out of the area |
| Wyzer, Joe | Derry Rite Aid owner who later moved to the Rite Aid in Bangor |
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