Louis Waters

Louis is one of the story’s two main characters. In his mid-70’s, he is the second oldest character in the book, after Ruth. After Addie, his neighbor from two doors door, invites him to sleep in her bed each night, he begins a relationship with her. Of the two, Louis is more reserved at first and Addie’s daring personality is both refreshing and shocking for him. Just after Addie proposes the sleeping arrangement, Louis notes her physical attractiveness.

Before his retirement, Louis was a high school English teacher in Holt County, where he resides throughout the novel. After years of teaching, he knows many of the townsfolk and their children. While speaking to Addie, he shares that his true fascination with English literature is poetry rather than prose. He then admits that he was only a good teacher, never a great one, because he...