The Flatshare

Leon is a quiet, introverted man who works the night shift as a nurse in a hospice facility and serves as the novel’s second narrator, alternating chapters with Tiffy. He is kind and caring, but he is also quiet and tends to avoid change and conflict. He cares deeply about his patients at the hospice, who also care for him and want to see him happy.

Beyond his occupation as a palliative care nurse, Leon’s personality is apparent through his relationship with his family. He loves his mother but maintains his distance from her at first. He is close to his brother, Richie, and spends a lot of time trying to help him get out of prison. For Leon, Kay not believing in Richie’s innocence was a dealbreaker that ended their relationship, as he finds himself unable to love someone who doesn’t love his brother.

Leon’s family and ethnic backgrounds are ambiguous. He tells Tiffy that his father moved to the United States when he and Richie were very little, and he is described as having “light brown skin” and long curly hair (14); his family’s racial profile comes into play during Richie’s trial when Leon notes that all the judges are white men. He and Richie also speak with a bit of an Irish accent. He tells Tiffy that his childhood was a little turbulent between his father leaving and his mother dating men who treated her poorly.

Leon’s character arc depicts a growing ability to accept change and step outside of his comfort zone. At first, these are small steps—buying new underwear, for example—but he takes bigger steps as he searches for Johnny White, breaks up with Kay, and finally connects intimately with Tiffy. He manages to improve his relationship with his mother as he understands more about what Tiffy has gone through with Justin. His patients at the hospice help him learn The Rewards of Taking Risks in Life and Love, which are reflected in his relationship with Tiffy.

Justin is Tiffy’s boyfriend of two years who has just broken up with Tiffy at the beginning of the novel. When Tiffy narrates at the beginning, she describes him as charming and wonderful and their romance as exciting even though they frequently broke up and got back together. The narrative, specifically Tiffy’s interactions with Mo and Gerty, soon makes clear that Justin was actually manipulative and that his treatment of Tiffy has done a lot of damage.

Justin is depicted as wealthy; he used to take Tiffy on luxurious cruises around the world and lavished her with expensive gifts. He could be charming and fun, and these moments made Tiffy always want to come back to him.

Justin’s behavior stands in contrast to Leon’s and escalates over the course of the novel as Tiffy and Leon grow closer. He keeps showing up at events where Tiffy is and sends flowers to her address; she has no idea how he knows where she is going to be, finding out much later that her coworker, Martin, had been feeding Justin information about her. When Justin realizes that he no longer has control over Tiffy, he becomes increasingly aggressive and desperate, staging a proposal to break up Tiffy and Leon and finally showing up to the flat drunk and trying to beat down the door.

Richie is Leon’s younger brother. He is in prison for a robbery that he didn’t commit. His trial was mishandled, his lawyer is ineffective, and he is stuck in jail until Leon can figure out a better plan.

Richie is younger than Leon, but he is much bigger and has a more outgoing personality. Before his imprisonment, he was known for charming women and getting in fights with men. He makes friends quickly, like Tiffy, and it doesn’t take long for the two of them to become close. He is impulsive but also loving and loyal. When he comes to Leon’s flat after being released, he helps Leon, Tiffy, Mo, and Gerty deal with Justin and then stays to talk and drink beer with them.

In this novel, many of the periphery characters come in pairs. Gerty and Mo are Tiffy’s best friends from university. Mo is a counselor or therapist. He is patient, gentle, and understanding. He listens to Tiffy whenever she needs to talk about her painful memories with Justin.

Gerty, on the other hand, is a no-nonsense lawyer and is sometimes so direct and blunt that she comes across as rude. She cares for Tiffy as much as Mo does, but her style is different. Gerty is smart and confident and makes things happen. She takes over Richie’s case and quickly gets his trial moved up three months, and then she gets Richie acquitted and released from prison.

When Rachel tells Tiffy that she believes Mo and Gerty are in a relationship, she can’t believe it because the two of them are so different, but it ends up being true; in this way, Mo and Gerty reflect a common trope of the romantic comedy genre: that opposites attract.

Holly and Mr. Prior are another pair of secondary characters, this time from Leon’s world. They are both patients at the hospice ward where Leon works. Holly is an eight-year-old girl with leukemia, and Mr. Prior is an older World War II veteran. They both love Leon and want him to be happy. Holly is always asking him questions about his personal life, and when she hears about his new flatmate, she believes that he and Tiffy are meant to be together, even though he is still with Kay. Holly has come closer to death than many people do at such a young age, and she makes Leon aware of how short life is. She eventually becomes well enough to go home, and her strength and wisdom inspire him continuously throughout the book.

When Mr. Prior confides in Leon that he had fallen in love with a man named Johnny White during the war, Leon makes it his mission to find Johnny White and reunite the men. Mr. Prior often urges Leon to tell people how he feels and take the initiative when it comes to his personal life because he himself has lived with the regret of not trying to find Johnny White. When Johnny White finally shows up at the hospice to see Mr. Prior before he dies, Leon runs to make amends with Tiffy after Justin’s proposal video has torn them apart.