Matt & Heather:

· Lost both parents in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

· Orphaned, at the ages of 5 and 3 respectively, they are sent to live with their only living relative, Great Aunt Estelle Furgeson, in the wealthy section of the Marina District in San Francisco.

· Aunt Estelle has strict rules regarding manners, how long Matt & Heather may watch TV as well as what they may watch, how long they may be on the computer and for what purposes, and which friends they may have over and for how long.

· Because of their structured lives, both siblings are bored and restless, especially Matt on the eve of his 13th birthday.

· In 2004, as the story, The Mariner’s Secret, begins, a 19 year old Matt finds his thoughts drifting to 1997 just as he was about to turn 13.

· Both are precocious and attend a private school.

· Their favorite room, besides their bedrooms, is the library. It has three walls of bookshelves, filled from floor to the twelve-foot high ceiling with books on every subject. The dark cherry paneling creates a cozy feeling in spite of the room’s large dimensions.

· Inside the library is Matt & Heather’s secret spot behind the sofa

Matt:

· Quiet and thoughtful and somewhat introspective. He likes to read and will delve into just about anything he can get his hands on.

· Has an analytical mind and creates games and mind puzzles to challenge his classmates.

· Didn’t take up sports as a boy and only played them at PE. Later, though, he favored swimming and became good at the high dive.

· Always carries a notebook with him so he can jot down ideas and take notes (he inherited this trait from his bio-scientist dad).

· Is fair-minded and defends the weak, always seeking justice for the downtrodden.

· Science has been his favorite subject and he excelled in it throughout his early school years.

· At 18, was accepted at and entered Stanford University to study science, with an emphasis on quantum physics.

· Likes all forms of music but his favorite is jazz, especially tunes that feature the saxophone with intricate rifts (it helps him think). He has even taught himself to play the instrument.

Heather:

· Has a quiet, sweet demeanor but with a devilish sense of humor, which reveals itself when she plays tricks on her few close friends, especially her brother.

· Favorite subject, art. She likes to sketch and finds herself designing cloths or beautiful rooms she would like to live in.

· Likes to read too, but her interests lean towards books involving the arts or historical fiction.

· As a young woman, she likes all genres of music and can easily slip from hip-hop to salsa to classical or jazz. Classical guitar is her instrument of choice and interpretive dance is her medium of expression.

· Is intrigued with the theatre and is majoring in theatre arts at Northwestern University in Chicago. She hopes to become a stage designer.

Estelle Furgeson:

· Now in her late 80s, she is still active in the social scene in San Francisco.

· Spends time playing bridge, lunching or taking short trips with members of her woman’s club.

· Never had children of her own, devoting herself, instead, to perfecting her piano virtuosity.

· A child prodigy of Vladimir Horowitz with a long and successful career as a concert pianist (her albums are still sought after by collectors).

· Married late in life to Hubert Furgeson who served in the diplomatic core (she was of Swiss descent and her maiden name was Christen.

· They lived in Germany, Budapest and Switzerland, allowing her easy travel to her European concert series.

· When Mr. Furgeson was transferred to San Francisco, they decided to buy a house in the Marina District overlooking the water with views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

· They purchased the house from a lady real-estate agent who said she was representing the estate of the old mariner who had built the 1916 house.

Hubert Furgeson:

· Served in the diplomatic core since the early 1950s.

· Died on Korean Air Lines Flight 007. The plane, a civilian airliner, was en route from New York City via Anchorage to Seoul, when it strayed into prohibited Soviet airspace due to a navigational error and was shot down by Soviet jet interceptors on September 1, 1983. All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed.

· Spoke several languages; his specialty was translating secret foreign documents.

· Parents were from Scotland where his father served in Parliament.

Jon & Josie Townsend:

· Parents of Matt & Heather.

· Met one another at a Stanford University rally

· Both students in the Science department.

· Formed their own company, SafGen, in 1987 after Jon had worked at Genentech and Josie at Vector Laboratories

· Liked to spend their pastime playing their instruments and creating new tunes, he on the drums and she on piano.

· Both were avid readers and loved hiking and bike riding, which they often rode commuting from their home to their company in Burlingame, CA.

· They were killed on the Cypress Freeway when it collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

Captain Thomas Smyth:

· Served on Captain Wilkes ship as ship’s boy during the United States Exploring Expedition of 1842.

· Built the house on Marina Boulevard by indentured Chinese laborers after retiring from the US Navy.

Manar:

· Born in Teheran, Iran.

· Well educated with a promising future, dashed when her father was killed and she, her mother and brother were forced to flee to Turkey, then eventually to the United States.