Sarah

Sarah is the school's farm manager. She trains and supervises a team of student farm hands, but she does not teach classes. She is the only member of the school community who has converted to Christianity (she is Catholic), rather than away from it. The community's other Christians were raised that way and have developed very liberal versions of their faith. In contrast, Sarah is both socially and politically conservative, a fact that causes a definite tension between her and some of the other community members. She stays with the school because she very much supports some aspects of how the community works (such as its environmental dedication and the fact that love and faith,even what she considers a mistaken faith, are more important than money) and because she is quietly devoted to Charlie.

Sarah is tall and slim, with long, straight, light-brown hair. She is 37 years old when the story begins and has four young children. Her husband is a musician who builds stringed instruments for a living. He has a workshop on campus and sometimes buys wood grown on campus but he does not mix regularly with the rest of the community. He and Sarah and the children live on campus during the growing season, often sleeping in a loft in the barn rather than in the Mansion. In the winter they live with Sarah's mother.