Gracelyn James known to her friends and family as Grace or Gracie has had a challenging life. As a teenager, she and her friends tried to rebel against the Party, trying to get the rest of the world to wake up and realize the Party and the Reich were the reason life was bad. That the Party only cared about themselves, not protecting the citizens. Ultimately, she and ten of her friends were arrested by the SP, today’s Gestapo, and she was the only one to be released. Trapped by the terms of her release, she is now a prisoner of her own life, subject to the control of others. As she is now in her late thirties with her own family, she tries to keep a low profile, but she is tired of feeling like her life is controlled. As the rebel group, FFA, starts causing havoc that can no longer be overlooked, she tries to convince her that it has nothing to do with her. Thinking that way only gets her so far, as she quickly realizes, it has a lot more to do with her than she would like. She has to once again decide whether or not she can risk her life to protect the ones she loves or keep pretending she believes that the Party is the best option for the people of the Reich.

Sophie Niemoeller is Grace’s smart seventeen-year-old half sister. She is almost too smart for her own good in the world she lives in. She dreams of going to college and doing something with her life that she finds fulfilling. Instead, her father has decided that she will marry someone who will increase the family’s success and notoriety in the world. She wants nothing to do with that. What she wants is to change the world. While she’s only ever known the Reich, she believes there is a better life without them. Her best friend, Will and herself, discover a family secret of Will’s grandfather, George. Not only is Will adopted, but he’s also Jewish, a fact seemingly impossible given the Nazi extermination of Jews decades earlier. She has more determination than the grownups around her and gets caught up with the FFA. At first she does smaller things, like producing leaflets denouncing the Party, many of the information she gets while researching her senior year history project at the restricted section of the National Archives where, Grace, works. She eventually risks her life by participating in high-level actions intended to harm and ultimately destroy the Reich. While she becomes an eager participant in the resistance against the Party, her father and the rest of her family still believes she is a role model for other girls her age.

Peter Niemoeller is the SP Chief of North America. While he is pushing sixty, he is still intimidating, leading many to be afraid of him. He has been married to Grace’s mother, Beth, for nearly thirty years. He could give her everything she thought she wanted: a power husband with connections and a social standing that she believed would give her anything she wanted. He has years’ long animosity towards Grace for the embarrassment she caused in her youth that he believes jeopardized his position. As his children, Sophie and Edward come of age and begin working on a research project in school that could open the discussion to Grace’s indiscretions, he is adamant that Grace remain quiet about her past and not put questionable thoughts of a better world in their heads.

Tristan Niemoeller is the SP Commander of the Midwest district. Where his half-brother, Peter, is intimidating, he is terrifying. People perceive him as calculating and cold. He uses violence and fear getting the answers he needs. The only person he thinks about is himself, putting himself above the rules more often than not. As the FFA becomes more active, his superiors task him with taking down the resistance group. He makes it a mission to find the leader, known as Hyde. While he treats everyone else as dispensible, he is obsessive over Grace. The only kindness he shows is to her, whether or not she likes it.

Aidan James is Grace’s husband, and who she calls her other half. Since a young age, he had committed himself to the FFA, trying to defeat the Party and truly find peace for the people of the Reich. Just after their children’s birth, the SP apprehended Aidan for theft from a high-ranking Party member, sentencing him to a KL. When readers meet him, he has spent five years in the KL. He promises Grace he will make it home and they can finally get back to their life. However, life never goes as we think it will.

Danny Winters is Grace’s brother’s best friend. He has grown up with the Caelan and Niemoeller families and is practically part of the family. Danny was a young SP officer during Grace’s youthful rebellion and after her release, he volunteers to be her keeper. He ends up seeing Grace through a very dark time, causing them to bond over the trauma. Whether or not Grace likes it, he becomes one of her best friends. In a world where people worry about themselves first, Danny puts Grace well-being first, being her protector, to the teasing of Tristan, Peter, and Jamie who find him weak for never trying to rise any further in the SP or the Party. Eventually his true feelings come to light and Grace faces a crossroads.

Eddie Boyle is Beth’s lively eighty-year-old Irish-American Father. When he was barely a man, he enlisted in the army and spent nearly seven years fighting in the War. When the Nazis won, he returned home with his friend, George, defeated. He didn’t recognize the world he came home to and struggled to find his path.He ultimately chose medicine, believing his survival from the war obligated him to find a way to do good in the world. With the dark cloud of the Nazi Party hanging over the world’s head, he thought that was the only way to do it. In his older age, he is boisterous and does not hold back his opinion, much to Peter’s dismay. He is both Grace and Sophie’s confidant, telling the latter his wartime stories.

Jamie Caelan is Grace’s older brother. He has been Peter’s golden child as he took him under his wing at an early age in order to help him rise through the ranks of the SP. He is one of Tristan’s most trusted officers, as he also puts the Party and it’s mission above all else. He looks at people as dispensable and knows that he is superior to most. He tries to forget his roots, boasting his father was a weak man and the smartest thing Beth ever did was divorce him. He finds Grace a burden on his life, and their relationship has been strained since they were young.

Will Frederick is Sophie’s best friend. Their grandfathers, Eddie and George, were childhood friends who survived the war together. While Will tries to stay within the parameters that Party sets for its citizens, he also dreams a world where people could be free to live their lives. George’s death, leads to the discovery of shocking information about his history, setting him on a unique path. When Sophie confesses her loyalty to the FFA, he does not want her doing something alone, and joins their cause. He feels protective of his best friend, and while he may not fully support crossing the line and joining the resistance, he also does not want Sophie getting involved without her having someone to watch out for her wellbeing.

Beth Niemoeller is the perfect woman of the Reich. She is agreeable to what she is told by her husband, Peter. She does not ask questions and only contributes to conversations when it is on an agreeable subject. Beth chooses not to dwell on her family’s involvement with the Party or the work Peter, Tristan, and Jamie do with the SP. She discourages work discussions around her youngest children, Sophie and Edward. Grace senses Beth’s disappointment; their atypical relationship has caused much hurt for both of them, despite Beth’s attempts to mend things.

Jonathan Moore is is also part of Grace’s inner circle. He also works in the archives as the digital collections manager. While he seems to be around frequently, he stays in the background, as he is shy around most people. He helps Sophie and her friends with the research for their school project without judgement.

DArcy Sophie’s contact with the FFA. He is incredibly handsome and causes her to stumble over her words more time than not when he is around her. While many do not have access to the leader of the FFA, he is part of the inner circle, even at such a young age, and pops up when least expected.

Mel Murray is one of Grace’s best friends. She is a no nonsense person and doesn’t confirm to what the Party says a woman should be. She sports bright pink hair and wears dark eye make up and nails. She loves wearing red lipstick, partially because the color is taboo in the Reich. She is the deputy director of the Archives and works closely with Grace. Whereas many are scared of the SP and SS, as they can arrest someone for no reason, Mel speaks her mind when dealing when Tristan and Jamie, often times enjoying making them uncomfortable.

Kyle Skora is one of Grace’s close friends. He is the registrar for the archives, working closely with both Mel and Grace. He is quiet and reserved. He’s gay. Only a handful of people know that because the Party has implemented severe laws about homosexuals in Nazi territories.

Henry Winters is a Sophie’s classmate. He is Danny’s half-brother and also comes from an influential Party family. He lives by the Party’s rules and believes that a woman’s place is in the home. He is flabbergasted that Sophie wants a life beyond being a wife and mother and cannot understand why she prefers college to marriage—to him. Sophie finds his arrogance and chauvinistic behavior disgusting and does whatever she can not be in the same vicinity as him.

Edward Niemoeller is Sophie’s twin brother. They share the same fair features, but that is where their similarities end. Edward is constantly bored. He ignores his sister and family. When forced to take part in family events, he glues his face to his cellphone.

Eion Caelan is Grace’s twin brother. They were inseparable growing up. After their dad died unexpectedly, Eion changed. He became more vocal in his opposition to the Reich and Party. Eventually, he and several of their friends ended up forming a small resistance group that spread throughout the Midwest. The SP arrested him and ultimately executed for his acts of treason. A part of Grace died that day, and has spent the last twenty years trying to mend the hole his death left.

Addie and Oliver James are Grace and Aidan’s six-year-old twins. They are just like Eion and. her at that age, inseparable. They are prone to mischief and very active. Grace mentions frequently she has given up on the life she hoped to have in order to give them the life they deserve.

FFA – A resistance group that has fought against the Reich for decades. They had been inactive for decades, but recently made a resurgence. It is no longer threats of violence, but now acts committed against the Reich in the name of freeing citizens from the tyranny they had faced since 1948.

Hyde is the leader of the FFA. No one knows who he or she is. Information flows selectively within their group. If someone is not involved in a particular mission against the Party, ignorance is bliss. As the FFA becomes more active after several decades of quiet, the SP’s goal is to locate Hyde and destroy the FFA once and for all.