The river between us

New Orleans-born Delphine is the book's other main character, and is arguably the work's primary antagonist, in the sense that she, like many antagonists, is the primary trigger of change or conflict with the protagonist. She challenges Tilly and triggers change in her, not so much through angry confrontation or manipulation, but simply by being who she is ... someone very different from Tilly, to whom Delphine is similar in age (Delphine is a few months younger). Delphine is far more worldly and sophisticated, accustomed to both wealth and being waited upon. She comes across as somewhat spoiled and selfish, but is also strong willed and independent-minded, determined and confident, all aspects of her personality that rub off not only on Tilly, triggering lasting change, but on Mama as well, for whom the change is not quite so enduring.

Delphine, as she admits to Tilly, is a product of the lifestyle, found only in New Orleans, of plaçage, a system in which wealthy and influential white men established and sustained relationships with free, independent black women and any children they may have had together. As a result of her ancestry, Delphine is able to pass as white, and receive all the social and economic advantages of being white, whereas her darker sister Calinda (see below) is unable to do so. Also as a result of her ancestry, however, Delphine has very clear ideas on what relationships with the opposite sex should be, with the result that she has very different, some might say limited, ideas about marriage. This is why, as an adult, she refused to marry Noah and insisted their child be raised by a legitimately married couple, Tilly and Dr. Hutchings.