Nora Nolan

Nora Nolan is the main protagonist of Alternate Side. The novel is told in third person limited perspective from her point-of-view. Nora is a middle-aged woman living on Manhattan's Upper West Side on an exclusive (and expensive) dead-end street. She lives with her husband Charlie until they divorce shortly before the end of the novel. Nora and Charlie have two children graduating from college, Oliver and Rachel, who are twins. Nora manages a jewelry museum whose exhibits largely consist of the collection owned by her eccentric employer, Bebe Pearl. However, around the same time she and Charlie divorce, Nora quits the museum to go work for Charlie's former boss, Bob Harris, at his foundation to improve educational opportunities for underprivileged children.

When Jack Fisk assaults Ricky, Nora takes Ricky's side, and she is angry that Charlie sides with Jack. Charlie accuses Nora of acting out of liberal...