Romance
A Full Guide to Emily Henry’s ‘Great Big Beautiful Life’ Characters & How They’re Connected
[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Great Big Beautiful Life.]
BookTok can rejoice because Emily Henry‘s new book, Great Big Beautiful Life, is finally out. In a departure from her usual romance formula, Henry adds Hollywood flair and mystery to her latest novel.
Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson head to Little Crescent Island in Georgia to compete for the chance to write Margaret Ives’ biography. Margaret, the Ives heiress formerly known as the “Tabloid Princess,” hasn’t been seen in decades, but she’s finally ready to tell her story, which includes spilling the tea about her powerful family.
As Great Big Beautiful Life jumps between the present day and Margaret revisiting her past, new (and very important) figures from the House of Ives are introduced. Swooon has assembled a full guide to the characters in the Ives family and the details you may have missed on the first read. So, without further ado, let’s start at the beginning.
Lawrence Richard Ives
The House of Ives all goes back to Lawrence, Margaret’s great-grandfather. He was the eighth-born son of farmers from Dillon Springs, Pennsylvania, and sought a better future for himself and his family out west, especially his beloved sister, Nicollet. He found some land in Nevada that he knew would bring him riches, and he was right.
There was some drama with his business partner, Thomas Dougherty, so Lawrence bought The San Francisco Daily Dispatch to control the narrative, which was the beginning of Ives Media. Lawrence also purchased the local Nevada inn, the Arledge. For the duration that the Ives family owned the inn, it was called the Nicollet. When Lawrence sent for his sister, she wouldn’t come because of how he’d betrayed Thomas. (Note: She was also married to a Dougherty).
Lawrence married Amelia Lowe, and they became parents to Gerald Rupert Ives, Margaret’s grandfather, and Georgiana “Gigi” Ives.
Gerald Rupert Ives
Lawrence was extremely hard on his only son. He allowed Gerald to run The San Francisco Daily Dispatch. Gerald’s media success led him to expand his horizons to New York, which is where he met Rosalind Goodlett, the daughter of a powerful senator. This marriage alliance gave him the opportunity to buy two papers in the Big Apple.
Gerald and Rosalind married, but it was purely a partnership. They had two children, Frederick and Francine Ives. Right after his father died, Gerald fell in love with actress Nina Gill. He bought the film studio Royal Pictures and put his mistress on contract. When she was at the height of her fame, Nina got sick and spent two years away. While in the Swiss Alps, Nina fell in love with her doctor. Meanwhile, Gerald reconnected with his sister, who had a daughter named Ruth. That’s the story the Ives told the world, but it wasn’t the truth. See below.
Ruth Nicollet Ives Allen
Ruth wasn’t Gigi’s daughter. She was actually Gerald and Nina’s daughter. They wanted to raise their daughter without shame or scandal surrounding her, so Gerald raised his daughter as his niece. When Nina was diagnosed with cancer, she wanted to tell Ruth the truth about her lineage.
However, just before Nina and Gerald could get the chance, Ruth and her husband, James Oller, died in a plane crash in 1954 on their way to the House of Ives.
Frederick “Freddy” Ives
Gerald eventually sent for his two kids with Rosalind, Freddy and Francine, in San Francisco. Francine ran Hearth & Home Journal and became the first female coeditor in chief. Freddy took over Royal Pictures, but he was never truly passionate about the business. However, that’s how he met Doris “Bernie” Bernhardt, a successful director. Freddy and Bernie eventually married (and later divorced). They had two children, Margaret Grace Ives and Laura Rose Ives.
Laura Rose Ives
Laura was her older sister’s complete opposite. While Margaret loved the spotlight, Laura despised it. After Ruth’s death, Laura and her grandfather grew closer. She took care of Gerald after he had a stroke and rarely left the house. Gerald allowed her to read Lawrence’s diaries and learn all the family secrets.
One night in 1958, Margaret convinced her sister to go to a Cosmo Sinclair concert. Laura was initially hesitant because Gerald’s health was deteriorating, but Margaret won out. Laura and Margaret went to the concert, but a stampede of Cosmo fans led to nasty injuries for both of them. Gerald died that night in 1958, which plunged Laura into an immense grief.
Her vulnerable state caused her to become obsessed with a controversial psychologist named Dr. David Ryan Atwood, and she became a member of his cult, the People’s Moment for Metaphysical Healing. Margaret, Cosmo, Freddy, and Bernie came together to try and figure out how to get Laura back after she tried to extort them, on behalf of the People’s Moment, for four million dollars. However, Laura’s plot was actually a setup to bring the People’s Moment down once and for all.
Dr. Cecil Willoughby (Wainwright)
Cecil was the doctor who testified at the People’s Moment trial about Laura’s medical state. He became a close friend to Laura and Margaret. After the trial, Cecil and Laura went to the Ives family chalet in Switzerland so Laura could continue to heal. They fell in love, got married, and welcomed a daughter named Jodi, who helps take care of Margaret in the present day.
Laura and Cecil, now the owner of the Fish Bowl, eventually settled in Little Crescent Island, Georgia. In 2003, Laura and Margaret reconnected. They had six months together before Laura died of cancer.
Margaret “Peggy” Grace Ives
Margaret is an enigma for most of Great Big Beautiful Life, withholding certain aspects of her story for specific reasons. In her younger years, she became known as the “Tabloid Princess.” Fame followed her in a way it had not for anyone else in her family, and for a while, she relished it. She embraced the spotlight specifically to protect her sister, too.
The 1958 concert was the beginning of her love story with the singer Cosmo Sinclair. Margaret hated him at first because of what happened at the concert and how it fractured her relationship with Laura. However, Cosmo’s charm and care won her over. They married in 1962.
Just a few years later, Cosmo died in a car accident. He was taking Margaret to the hospital when a truck barreled into their car. Margaret famously wore her wedding dress to his burial. She also stopped speaking to her sister for years because Laura refused to leave Switzerland after the accident.
Margaret shut herself away for two years and only saw Cecil. She wasn’t just grieving. She had given birth to her and Cosmo’s daughter, Nicollet, in 1967. Margaret knew she couldn’t give her daughter the life she deserved, one out of the spotlight, so she gave Nicollet up for adoption. Nicollet, as her great-grandfather once said, was “the one you’d give it all up for,” and that’s exactly what Margaret did.
Hayden Anderson
Margaret sought Hayden out to write her life story specifically because Hayden is her grandson. Hayden grew up in Indiana, as the son of a mayor. His mom, Nicollet, preferred to stay out of the public eye, much like her aunt. Margaret needed a way for Hayden to stick around in Georgia so she could get to know him, so she concocted this plan to have him compete with Alice to write her book. Initially, Margaret never intended to actually have anyone write a book about her life, but Hayden and Alice did eventually write it together.
In the end, Margaret reconnects with her daughter, Nicollet, after so many years apart. Hayden and Alice get married and welcome their daughter, Laura Grace Anderson-Scott, into the world, named after her grandmother and great-aunt.
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