and a private in the British Army, through which he is deployed to Iraq. He enjoys reading and becomes friends with Adrian's boss, Mr Carlton-Hayes, by exchanging letters. Mr Carlton-Hayes is keen to further his interest and sends him several books to read. He is killed in a bomb explosion near the end of the book, which upsets Adrian greatly. Marigold Flowers For a while she is Adrian's girlfriend, and later his fiance, but he loves her less each day. Adrian became engaged to her only because of the influence of her father, Michael. Marigold is described as needy, hysterical, mentally and emotionally unstable and a hypochondriac. She seems to always expect to get what she wants and proves to be manipulating Adrian. She even lies that she is pregnant with Adrian's child in a final attempt to make him marry her. At the end, however, she marries Bruce "Brainbox" Henderson. Daisy Flowers Daisy is Marigold's elder half-sister. She is the "black sheep" of the Flowers family, having embraced the materialistic lifestyle that they claim to renounce. She and Adrian are attracted to each other, and he eventually leaves Marigold in favour of her. Her father, Michael Flowers describes her as a Hedonist. Unlike the rest of the Flowers family, Daisy is popular with Adrian's friends and family. However, Daisy is temperamental, frequently drunk, and much to Adrian's annoyance swears in mostly every sentence. Michael Flowers Father of Daisy, Poppy, and Marigold. He is a powerful patriarchal figure, a vegetarian, a madrigal-singer, and a hater of modernity. He dislikes Mr. Carlton-Hayes, mostly because of a long-standing disagreement they have concerning J.R.R. Tolkien. Michael Flowers is a domineering character, who appears to like Adrian, and appears to attempt to groom Adrian to be his ideal son-in-law and surrogate son. Flowers is opinionated and usually ignores Adrian should he try argue his corner. After a life of left-wing piety Flowers later becomes a supporter of the right wing populist United Kingdom Independence Party. Pandora Braithwaite Adrian's childhood sweetheart. Formerly an Oxford academic, specialising in Eastern European languages, she has more recently become a politician and a Labour MP. There are some indications scattered through the novel that Adrian is still in love with her, as he was throughout most of the earlier books. Pandora also sent text messages to him saying she loved him but did that only when she was "drunk".