Violet Markey

"The thing I realize is that it's not what you take, it's what you leave."

Violet Markey is one of the main characters in the story. She lives for the future, counting the days until graduation when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's death...

Biography

Several months before the events of the book Violet is in a car crash with her older sister and best friend, Eleanor. Eleanor loses her life while Violet suffers minor injuries. She becomes distant from her friends while letting her school work pass her by and letting the teachers believe that she has "extenuating circumstances". Her relationship with her parents becomes estranged because they treat her like she is fragile and almost to the point of breaking. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school—six stories above the ground—it's unclear who saves whom. And when the unlikely pair teams up on a class project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, they go, as Finch says, where the road takes them: the grand, the small, the bizarre, the beautiful, the ugly, the surprising—just like life.

Physical Appearance

She has dark blonde hair and crooked bangs, which she cut herself. Her eyes are large and gray-green, and for some time she wears her sister's huge glasses, which nearly covers her face. Violet is described as "pretty and tall, but not too tall, with long, restless legs and curvy hips". She also has two freckles on her right cheek.

Relationships


 * Theodore Finch (romantic) - After meeting on the school's bell tower they partner up in a geography assignment. Together they wander Indiana and Violet's feelings for Finch are slowly growing.
 * Brenda Shank-Kravitz (friends) - Towards the ending of the book Violet becomes close friends with Brenda, whom she knows through Finch.
 * Ryan Cross (ex-boyfriend) - After liking Ryan for a while, Violet finally got to kiss him at a party. This party was on the night of the accident in which Eleanor died. Violet and Ryan dated for a while and during the novel, Ryan still seems to be really into Violet but these feelings are not returned as the turn of events changed Violet and she no longer is really interested in Ryan (or the whole popular group for that matter).
 * Amanda Monk (friend) -