Charles Norstadt is the fourteen-year-old protagonist of "The Man Without A Face" by Isabelle Holland. Charles lives with his mother, seventeen-year-old sister, Gloria, and younger sister, Meg. Charles' mother has been married and divorced four times and is working on marriage number five. The family's permanent residence is in an apartment in New York City. As the story unfolds, the family has moved temporarily to their summer home on a peninsula off the Atlantic Coast.
Charles is not a happy youngster. His mother and sister, Gloria, are always upset with him. He can do nothing right and is criticized at every turn. The two women also criticize his father, his mothers' second ex-husband, in an attempt to tear down any positive image that Charles has struggled to build about his absent father. When he realizes that Gloria has changed her mind about going away to school in the fall and will remain in New York with the family, Charles knows he must act.
Charles has already muffed his entry exam for the St. Matthews boarding school which would take him away from home. When he learns that he will have a second chance at the exam, he is practical and honest enough to know that he will need help. It is his sister Meg, also a family outcast in her own way, who suggests that he ask the disfigured man in the village to tutor him. No one knows much about him except that he used to be a teacher.
Charles decides that having this man, Justin McLeod, tutor him would be ideal. The man, who was horribly disfigured in an accident, does not talk or associate with anyone in the community. To succeed, Charles must keep his plans from his mother and Gloria so they can't sabotage them. McLeod senses that the boy is trying to escape a bad situation and agrees to tutor him. Charles and McLeod eventually form a bond and McLeod becomes the only adult Charles has been able to trust in his young life. The tutoring is successful. Charles passes the entry exam and is accepted at St. Matthews. McLeod has tutored him well but also taught him about love, honesty, and independence.
