Characters · 15 companions
Brunettes: fifteen companions, seated as a hostess would seat them
Brown hair belongs to fifteen of the Society's twenty-eight companions, making this the broadest character in the index and, taken alone, the least decisive. So the page does what any good hostess does with a long guest list. It divides the fifteen by the kind of room in which each is most herself, hushed, convivial or open to the street, and leaves the exact shade of brown to the detail.
At 21:00
A character
Everyone listed shares this one published detail, and nothing more is assumed.
Brunettes, on the roster
Everyone listed here matches on her published facts alone. A portrait leads to her photographs, her figures and a short account of her evenings.
Bianka
Jasmin
Laura
Liana
Lucy
Margo
Michelle
Molly
Rosa
Samanta
Sonya
Stacy
Tiffany
Tina
Vanessa
For the hushed rooms
Liana, 167 cm and slim, chestnut hair falling straight, moves with the balance of long pilates practice and chooses restaurants for their quiet. Margo, 166 cm, with dark brown hair and a calm that lowers the voices around her, will give one canvas in Mason's Yard all the time it asks for. Samanta, 174 cm, plays the violin most mornings and judges a hotel by its lamps and its banisters.
Sonya, 162 cm and hazel-eyed, begins each day with meditation and is at her best in a gilded lounge where tea gives way to evening. Lucy, 163 cm, her dark curls untamed, would open the night with a lecture in a Georgian theatre of science and close it on a terrace, looking for Jupiter.
For rooms with a bar at the centre
Jasmin, 160 cm and petite, with long chestnut hair, dances salsa each week and can identify most fragrances from across a table. Michelle, 173 cm, her dark hair worn poker straight, is a born hostess who makes any hotel bar feel like her own drawing room. Tina, 158 cm and athletic, with espresso brown hair, sketches hemlines on cocktail napkins and admires a bartender who experiments.
Tiffany, 169 cm, chocolate brown hair, notices every lamp and every stranger in the room and says something kind about both. Molly, 164 cm, dark waves and gold hoops, knows which late-night DJ is worth crossing London for, and her laugh will find you from the other end of the bar.
For evenings that spill into the street
Laura, 169 cm, athletic and green-eyed, rides, skis and prefers the long way home. Rosa, 160 cm, chestnut curls, walks Cork Street gallery by gallery with an honest verdict for every wall. Vanessa, 173 cm, with a sandy balayage, sees London from a bicycle and will lead you to a perfumer's under the arcade glass.
Stacy, 176 cm, near-black hair, carries a camera and a plan she will happily rewrite before ten. Bianka, 165 cm, light brown hair paler at the ends, would begin at a bar counter, sharing small plates and quizzing the staff on the one bottle they would choose for themselves.
Narrowing fifteen to one
Crossing this character with another is the quickest way. Six of the fifteen are also petite and four are statuesque, so height alone divides the list sharply. Four share the curving line of the curvaceous character, and the three athletic brunettes are Laura, Sonya and Tina. A list this long also makes it easy to pair two friends for a duo evening, should the occasion call for two.
When the choice is made
Send the name, the date and the hotel to Cressida. If two brunettes are tied in your mind, tell her which room you have in view, hushed, convivial or out in the street, and she will settle it.
Other characters
Browse, then write
Name the companion you prefer, or describe the evening and let Cressida choose from the roster.