The Dutch House

Maeve is Danny’s eldest sister and serves as a mother figure for him after Elna’s departure and Andrea’s decision to kick him out of the Dutch House after Cyril’s death. Described as a tall, imposing figure with wild black hair, Maeve harbors a sense of anger and being wronged that dominates much of her life after her father’s death. Maeve’s identity is intimately tied to her physical vulnerability, specifically that she has severe diabetes.

Maeve slowly builds a life for herself as she mothers her brother, makes a career for herself using her talent with numbers, and becomes a bigger part of her community after Danny finally establishes his independence. Despite the freedom to build her own life once Danny grows up, Maeve never establishes a long-term romantic relationship, perhaps because she has diabetes and knows that the disease is likely to take her life sooner than most.

The major pivot in Maeve’s character occurs when her mother, Elna, returns after Maeve has a heart attack. Elna’s return is supposed to be the fulfillment of a dream Maeve has had for 40 years, but this joyful reunion hits a snag when Elna forces Maeve to return to the Dutch House. Maeve keeps this relationship with her mother, but this encounter forces her to confront her own anger at her mother. Maeve’s death serves as the final push Danny needs to move on from the past.

Andrea is an attractive, blond woman who is two decades younger than Cyril when she begins dating him and later marries him. She is the mother of two girls, Norma and Beatrice, and both Conroy children describe her as conniving, grasping, and cold. Andrea’s decision to put Danny out of the Dutch House in 1963 after Cyril’s death is the central incident of the novel. Because the Conroys go more than three decades with no contact with Andrea, this one action defines her character for much of the novel, and she is a relatively static character as a result.

When the reader does encounter Andrea again, she is suffering from dementia and is a pitiful wreck who seems nothing like the towering, ruthless figure who took everything from the Conroy children. This contrast both shows the passage of time and calls into question the reliability of Danny’s characterization of Andrea.

Elna starts out life as a young woman who comes from working class roots in Brooklyn. Her life takes a turn when Cyril convinces her to give up her dream of being a nun and to instead become his wife. Elna seems content with being a wife and mother until Cyril moves the family to the Dutch House and vaults them into the upper class. The move is too drastic for Elna, who eventually leaves her children to do charity work abroad, on the West Coast, and later in New York. Elna is away from her children for 43 years.

While her choices lead other characters to identify her as a saint, Elna mostly refuses to accept that her decision to prioritize her desire to minister to the poor had devastating impacts on her children. Elna is absent for much of the narrative but does return in the end. The pivot in her character comes when she decides to return to the Dutch House to act as a caretaker for Andrea. This return to the Dutch House represents the resolution of the central conflict of her life, coming to terms with her place in the Dutch House.

Cyril is an Irish-American man from Brooklyn who is a self-made financial success. Cyril is a canny, quiet, extremely frugal man whose commitment to hard work and willingness to use insider information allow him to buy the Dutch House and land that makes him a fortune. Cyril’s one major weakness seems to be his inability to understand women.

Cyril moves Elna to the Dutch House with no preparation, and his marriage is destroyed with this single act. He marries Andrea despite early hints that it will be difficult to create a blended family because of Andrea’s obsession with the house and giving her own children priority. Cyril dies suddenly, exposing an act of extreme carelessness, failing to have a will that protected Maeve and Danny. Although it must have taken a willingness to adapt for Cyril to go from being poor to being wealthy, there is little evidence in the novel that Cyril was changed by his encounters with others. He is a static character.

Celeste meets Danny during a chance encounter on the train home to Elkins Park. Having come of age in a relatively traditional family, Celeste’s plan in life is to get married and become a mother. She completes college and works as a language arts teacher for a while. The most significant shift in Celeste’s life is her increasing dissatisfaction with the limitations of her role as wife and mother. Celeste’s story serves an important reminder of what some women give up when they accept traditional roles.

Celeste is also one of the few figures in the novel who push against the Conroy children’s sense of being wronged. She tells Danny several times that he and his sister are lucky—they have each other and had the benefit of a fully funded education. Her last act in the novel seems to be divorcing Danny and rejecting his offer of the family brownstone. These actions imply that she decides to move on from the traditional gender role she assumed early in her marriage. 

Fluffy, also known as Fiona, is the Irish-American caretaker of the Dutch House before Cyril purchases it and Danny’s nanny until Danny is four. Fluffy is also briefly Cyril’s mistress after Elna leaves, but this relationship ends when Cyril makes it clear he will not marry her. Fluffy is the bridge between Danny’s life at the Dutch House and his life with Celeste and his children in New York. She serves as a nanny to Danny’s children, tells detailed stories that romanticize the Dutch House, and encourages Danny to forgive his mother. 

Sandy is one of two sisters who serves on the staff of the Dutch House. Sandy is also an important figure in the lives of the Conroy children in that she shares information with the children about their mother, sees Elna as a saint, and returns to support Elna in taking care of Andrea in the Dutch House in the 1990s.

Jocelyn is one of two sisters who serves on the staff of the Dutch House from the time Cyril purchases the home in 1947 until Andrea dismisses her in 1963. Jocelyn is portrayed as warm and loyal, and she is less willing than Sandy to forgive Elna for her disappearance.

May is the eldest of Danny’s children. Patchett portrays her as an irreverent child who has a strong personality and is a talented performer even at an early age. May grows up to be a famous actor and manages to purchase the Dutch House. May is also said to look remarkably like her Aunt Maeve.

Morey is a chemistry professor at Columbia University and is one of the few male figures in Danny’s life after Cyril’s death. Morey plays an important role in Danny’s dream to become a real estate owner because Morey unwittingly gives Danny the information he needs to purchase the parking lots that eventually yield the capital Danny needs to get started.

Norma is one of Andrea’s daughters. Norma disappears from the narrative for decades because the Conroys have no contact with Andrea and her daughters until Elna forces them to return to the Dutch House. When Norma reappears, it is in the 1990s, and she is a pediatric oncologist who is forced to put her career on hold to take care of Andrea. As an adult, Norma is conscientious, selfless, and makes efforts to establish a relationship with Danny.

Mr. Otterson is a minor character in the novel. He gives Maeve her first job and supports Maeve as she becomes the chief financial officer after the company goes international. Mr. Otterson is a constant figure in Maeve’s life: He is there when Maeve is hospitalized and is as grief-stricken as Danny when Maeve dies.

Kevin is the youngest child of Danny and Celeste. He is a slightly developed character who is sickly when he is born and fulfills his mother’s dream by going to Dartmouth and becoming a doctor.