At twelve years old, Friedrich is a talented conductor and harmonica player. He has thick, curly blonde hair, and a large purple, red, and brown birthmark that covers half of his face. He is ridiculed by his classmates and gawked at by adults because of his unusual appearance, and this causes him great shame and fear. However, at the same time, he is bright and cheerful: when he leaves school at eight to become an apprentice at the harmonica factory, he becomes a favorite of all the adults there. Music is his consolation in an unfair world, and when his family faces real trouble, he finds inner reserves of strength and braverywith the help of “Brahms’ Lullaby,” which he plays on the mysterious harmonica he finds in the factory. He hatches a plan to help his family escape to Switzerland. His plan succeeds; as an adult, he lives a happy life in Switzerland and has become a successful young conductor. 

At eleven years old, Mike is six feet tall with bright red hair; he is “gangly, clumsy, quiet” (201). He is a talented pianist who fiercely loves his younger brother, Frankie. His height earns him the respect of other boys in the orphanage but means that he also appears older than his years: a disadvantage in that he can be sent to work by Pennyweather before he is legally supposed to.