Switzy Characters

An aging, wealthy former executive with worsening memory and cognitive decline, who travels by private plane to London and then Zurich for a planned assisted death. He hides his diagnosis and lapses, relies on notes and routines, and is preoccupied with mortality, lost legibility, and his estranged family. He is father to Rebecca, ex-husband to Annabel, and old friend to Tom.

Arc: Across the story he moves from trying to manage his decline and make farewells to accepting the assisted-death process, signing the paperwork and drinking the barbiturate. His memory and control continue to slip, and he ends by reflecting on his life while holding Cody's hand.

• Cody — his assistant and caretaker
• Rebecca — his daughter
• Annabel — his ex-wife
• Tom — his old friend and schoolmate
• Anna Gould — Zurich liaison he calls Ghoul
• Bill Stearns — his old friend, former employer, and business associate
• Sylvia — his housekeeper
• Rainer — his grandson
• Geoff — his son-in-law
• Mark — his first boss
• Miss Shapiro — his childhood teacher

David's younger assistant, companion, and caretaker, who manages travel, passports, medication, phone, and logistics, and holds powers of attorney and medical attorney. He helped David write the letter about his planned death, is present during Ghoul's calls, and may have taken mid-six figures from David. He has a partner, Sam, and in Zurich is impatient for his new freedom to begin.

Arc: He moves from indispensable caretaker to the person who controls access to David and is present at his death, with David suspecting him of taking money and noticing Cody stepping into his name and outline. At the end he holds David's hand as the barbiturate takes effect.

• David Hastings — his employer/charge and companion
• Sam — his partner
• Anna Gould — contact in the assisted-death process
• Rebecca — David's daughter, with whom he communicates about David
• Tom — he contacts Tom on David's behalf
• Sylvia — with her parcels out David's medications
• Julian — driver he calls in Zurich
• Meatball — driver on final outings

David's daughter, who lives in London, is married to Geoff, and has a nine-year-old son, Rainer. She cares about David and worries about his health and retirement, but is frustrated by having to go through Cody to reach him and does not know about his diagnosis or assisted-suicide plan. She invites him to Rainer's London showcase.

Arc: She has an awkward dinner with David and later a tense flat visit; she challenges his memory, tells him Cody never came inside, and remains unaware of his plan. David emails her explaining he will have passed peacefully and legally in Switzerland.

• David Hastings — her father
• Rainer — her son
• Geoff — her husband
• Annabel — her mother
• Cody — intermediary for reaching David

David's old boarding-school roommate and friend of his youth, with whom David has an unresolved 'accounting' and an intimate past at a lake. In memory he is a guitarist, class speaker, chess teacher, and the victim of a cruel senior prank that left him changed. He now lives outside Zurich with a wife, is wary of David, and only agrees to a brief car-side hello.

Arc: David seeks him out to apologize and to settle their past, but Tom says he barely remembers that time and that he cannot give David what he is looking for, then leaves him in the car. David later addresses him as 'old friend' and tries to communicate that Death is all around.

• David Hastings — old friend, boarding-school roommate, and object of unresolved apology
• Freddie — one of the boys who pranks him

David's ex-wife and Rebecca's mother, who appears mostly in David's memories of their honeymoon, pregnancy, childbirth, divorce when Rebecca was ten, and their old house. She drank white wine because red revealed the fractures in her tooth enamel, wished to see famous gardens, and was relieved when her bicycle was stolen. David remembers her as someone he could have called, who knew him before their lives happened.

Arc: She does not appear in the present; she remains a remembered figure whose past with David illuminates his losses and his isolation. David's memories of her recur through the final chapters as part of his life review.

• David Hastings — her ex-husband
• Rebecca — her daughter

David's Zurich liaison, whom he calls 'Ghoul,' who handles his paperwork, assessments, and the process for his planned assisted death. She repeatedly asks whether he still wants to go through with it, meets him at a café before sign-off, and later guides the final process with paperwork and the barbiturate. David has forgotten her real name by the end.

Arc: She moves from bureaucratic contact and required assessments to the person who models David's statements, confirms he can cancel, and prepares the real mixture. She remains competent and quiet, which David considers pretty much kindness.

• David Hastings — the man she guides through the assisted-death process
• Cody — works with Cody in the process

David's business associate, old friend, and former employer whose private plane is used for the trips; he made the December 31 cutoff for the plane's tax write-off and selected its dishware. He defended David against the board over his exit package, offered him a job, and let things slide as David's confusion worsened. After his last marriage he completed a twelve-step program and now answers calls from men struggling with drink.

Arc: He goes from protector and employer to a farewell caller, phoning David in Zurich to ask if he is still sure, calling him brave, and saying 'I love you.' In memory he is also a heavy-drinking Zurich companion who advised a last blowout.

• David Hastings — old friend, former employer, and business associate
• Cody — mentions having instructed Cody to take David to a bar

David's housekeeper, rehired after other housekeepers were fired, who cleans his overcoat, threw away his holey sweaters during a deep-clean, and retrieved them after his harsh outburst. She was hurt in a fight David does not remember, threatened to quit, and began spending nights. She parcels out David's medications with Cody according to who is on duty.

Arc: She remains a recurring domestic presence whose conflict with David he cannot recall, and she becomes one of the people managing his medications as his decline worsens.

• David Hastings — his housekeeper
• Cody — with him parcels out David's medications

Rebecca and Geoff's nine-year-old son and David's grandson, who opens the door to David, talks about Mahler's Ninth as the farewell symphony, shows David his room and train set, and skates down the hallway. He is a polite but uncertain little host and has an upcoming London showcase.

Arc: He gives David a farewell moment with the Mahler and the miniature train world, then says goodbye. David tells him 'Not ever' when asked if he will come back.

• David Hastings — his grandfather
• Rebecca — his mother
• Geoff — his father

Rebecca's husband and Rainer's father, who arrives with a sense of rupture, kisses Rebecca, shakes David's hand aggressively, and talks about Switzerland, Mount Eiger, Verbier, and skiing before leaving for work. Rainer says Dad does not want to visit David. He is occupied with work and skiing.

Arc: He appears briefly in the London flat visit and then exits for work, contributing to the family tension and David's sense of disconnection.

• Rebecca — his wife
• Rainer — his son
• David Hastings — his father-in-law

Cody's partner, who sits with Cody in the hotel bar and says he is in Europe for work. He offers David a martini, tells David he is like a father figure to Cody and thanks him, then gives David back the sweater he is wearing and leaves. David does not recognize him.

Arc: He appears in the confrontation where David sees him wearing his sweater and accuses Cody and Sam of going into his room; he complies when Cody tells him to hand it over and get air.

• Cody — his partner
• David Hastings — tells David he is like a father figure to Cody

A woman at Rebecca's house when David returns for his missing phone; Rebecca introduces her and Lauren helps search the couch cushions, smiling warmly. Her presence coincides with Rebecca saying it is a bad time and with a wrecked sitting room.

Arc: She appears only in this awkward return scene and helps search for the phone.

• Rebecca — woman at whose house she is present
• David Hastings — meets him and shakes hands
• Cody — introduced to him

A younger woman David meets at the hotel bar, where she is drinking Champagne with a friend; when David covers their bill she stays, introduces herself, and talks about her bad hotel, jet lag, and the two hundred servants a modern person supposedly has. She fills in his room number and signature on the bill and suggests they go upstairs.

Arc: She moves from stranger whose drinks David pays for to companion offering to continue the evening, leaving David to navigate his missing room number and key card.

• David Hastings — stranger at the hotel bar who pays her drinks and whom she offers to take upstairs

David's first boss, now deceased, remembered at his funeral with readings and hymns. He kept a jar of bright-red pistachios on his desk that he cracked with his teeth.

Arc: He appears only in David's memories, representing an earlier world of business and ritual.

• David Hastings — his first boss

David's childhood teacher, remembered for teaching cursive by meeting each student in their private child world and pressing their hand into place to hold the pencil correctly.

Arc: She appears only in David's memory of learning handwriting, part of his fading past.

• David Hastings — his childhood teacher

A boy involved in the senior prank against Tom; during the remembered prank Freddie has the gun, aims it into the trees and darkness, and pulls the trigger. The prank leaves Tom terrified and changed.

Arc: He appears only in the recalled prank, one of the boys with David who targets Tom.

• Tom — participates in the prank against him
• David Hastings — one of the boys present with David during the prank

A driver in Zurich who drives the black car from the airport, helps oversee luggage, asks David 'All set?', and pilots them through the night and a long tunnel. Cody says Julian has driven David before.

Arc: He appears as a quiet, competent driver during David's Zurich arrival and later is mentioned as waiting with Cody.

• David Hastings — his driver in Zurich
• Cody — Cody calls him and thanks him

A driver who speaks to say the mountains aren't the Alps, helps David after he falls at Tom's house, and later drives David and Cody to the industrial park. He answers David that the sign 'Assfart' means exit.

Arc: He remains a largely silent driver through the final outings, present for David's fall and the drive to the last building.

• David Hastings — drives and assists him
• Cody — with Cody in managing David