Beggars in Spain

The primary antagonist of the novel, Jennifer Sharifi is a Sleepless born shortly before Leisha. When the book first introduces Jennifer, it states, “Jennifer disturbed [Leisha]. […] Jennifer didn't laugh. Leisha had never met a Sleepless who didn't laugh” (40). Her humorlessness may be a consequence of the abandonment issues she experienced by the premature death of her Arab prince father and her absent, drug-addicted mother. Decades later, when Jennifer begins to exhibit increasingly fanatical behavior as the head of Sanctuary, her ex-husband Richard says, “I think she'd detonate the world if she thought it would finally make her feel safe” (364).

As young adults, Jennifer and Leisha disagree strongly about the relationship between Sleepers and Sleepless. Her desire to keep Sleepless away from their perceived genetic inferiors causes her to steal fake research involving a procedure to convert Sleepers into Sleepless, a crime for which she is later acquitted. This experience causes her to relocate nearly the entire Sleepless population to a space station orbiting the Earth.

While Jennifer doesn't believe in God, she prays in accordance with Muslim traditions: “The will to believe created its own power, its own faith, and, ultimately, its own will. […] The believer became the Creator” (114). Jennifer carries this God-complex throughout her adult life, manifesting itself most disturbingly during her tenure as the leader of the Sanctuary space station. Her efforts to maintain a community of equals where no one deprives anyone else of anything not freely given causes her to engage in a eugenics program in which she aborts or murders any child conceived who will be born a Sleeper, while forcing the euthanasia of a number of community members who suffer grievous accidents, including her own grandson, Tony. When Jennifer announces Sanctuary's secession from the United States and threatens to release bioweapons into major American cities, Miri foils her plans, and Jennifer is sent back to Earth to face treason charges.

Miranda or “Miri” Sharifi is Jennifer's granddaughter, and the daughter of Ricky Sharifi and his wife Hermione. Born in the year 2075 on Sanctuary, Miri is the result of a genetic experiment to create “Supersleepless” babies whose brains operate at three to four times that of a normal Sleeper. When Miri appears in the book as an infant at a meeting of the Sanctuary council, “[her] eyes bulged in their sockets and darted constantly, unable to remain still. The strong, tony body twitched ceaselessly” (225). For Miri and the Supers bred after her, the twitching persists into adolescence, as does stuttering, drooling, and a struggle to hold their oversized heads upright. Despite these challenges, Miri is naturally joyous, like all the Supers. “They all liked everything, because everything was so interesting” (246).

Miri's closest confidante is her younger brother, Tony, for whom she also has complicated sexual feelings. At the age of 13, when she accidentally walks in on Tony having sex with Christina, Miri tries in vain to find a sexual partner on Sanctuary. She then begins to masturbate twice a day to pornographic newsgrids from Earth.

At age 16, Miri joins the Sanctuary council as is her birthright as a Sharifi. In her first meeting, the council debates whether to euthanize Tabitha Selenski who suffered a grievous electrocution accident. While Jennifer and nine others vote to kill Tabitha, Miri aligns with the six minority voters who believe she should be allowed to live, a reflection of Miri's compassion and the growing philosophical wedge between her and Jennifer.

When Tony suffers his own accident and is ordered to be killed by Jennifer, Miri turns against the Sanctuary leadership, banding together with other Supers in a group she christens, “The Beggars.” Around this time, she watches one of Drew's lucid dream performances, which allows her to break free of the patterns of linear thought and finally develop a formula that cures her stuttering and twitching. At the end of the book, it is Miri who leads the group of Supers that foils Jennifer's plan to secede from the United States.

Alice Camden is Leisha's non-identical twin sister who is born with no genemods, including Sleeplessness. From an early age, Alice has a fraught relationship with her sister largely due to the way their father Roger dotes on Leisha while ignoring Alice. At the age of 23, Alice confronts Leisha about her painful childhood, and Leisha coldly responds, “You too? You're no different from the other envious beggars?” (85). At this, Alice slaps Leisha and says, “Now do you see me as real?” (85).

Despite this tension, Alice immediately comes to Leisha's aid when she needs help rescuing Stella Bevington. This act of kindness, given freely and with nothing expected in return, causes Leisha to rethink her relationship with Alice, along with her entire Yagaiist worldview.

As the two enter middle-age, Alice becomes heavily involved with the Twin Group, an organization that investigates psychic connections between twins. This offends Leisha's rational sensibilities, and the pair's relationship remains on shaky ground. During Jennifer's trial, when Leisha suffers a nervous breakdown, Alice comes to her rescue again, this time claiming that she sensed her sister's pain through their para-psychological connection.

In her old age, Alice retires to Leisha's New Mexico compound where she dotes on Drew Arlen. After a series of strokes, she dies at the age of 83.

Drew Arlen is an artist who uses poetry and holographic projection to induce lucid dreaming, even in Sleepless. At the age of 10, Drew hitchhikes from his Liver family in Louisiana to New Mexico to meet Leisha and join her foundation, which trains Livers to become Donkeys: “Drew was the filthiest ten-year-old [Leisha] had ever seen” (227). A few months into his stay with Leisha, Drew and Eric get into a fight that results in Drew injuring his spinal cord and losing the use of his legs. Relegated to a powerchair, Drew flunks out of one school after another until, at the age of 19, Eric effectively kidnaps him and forces a procedure on him designed to make him more tranquil. A few months later, Drew invents his dream-inducing technology and becomes a world-renowned artist. He falls in love with Leisha who spurns his advances, citing their age difference. At the end, it's suggested that he and Miri will become involved romantically.

Calvin Hawke is the owner of the We-Sleep scooter factory, an anti-Sleepless demagogue, and a leader in the Populist We-Sleep movement. The chief antagonist of Book 2, Hawke orchestrates the creation of fake research indicating Sleepers can become Sleepless to lure Jennifer and Sanctuary into stealing it. He then baits Leisha into exposing the theft and kills one of the doctors responsible for the fake research, implicating Jennifer in the murder. As a result of the allegations against Jennifer, profits at Hawke's factory and other We-Sleep-affiliated businesses skyrocket. When Leisha confronts Hawke, she says his motivation was mostly envy rather than profits. Hawke's ultimate fate is unknown, though it is suggested he gets away with his crimes.

Tony Indivino is one of the first generation of Sleepless, along with Leisha and Jennifer. Growing up, his abusive mother prohibited him from telling anyone he was Sleepless: “They'll think you're a freak” (36). As a young adult, Tony begins to build the first Sanctuary to protect Sleepless from resentful Sleepers. It is Tony who coins the phrase “Beggars in Spain,” telling Leisha that the “beggars” will resent the superior Sleepers and turn against them. After Tony rescues a four-year-old Sleepless abused by his parents, police arrest him for kidnapping. While awaiting trial, inmates murder Tony in prison.

Dr. Susan Melling is a geneticist and the inventor of the Sleepless genemod. Fascinated by Leisha's and Alice's unique situation, Susan frequently visits the Camden household and later moves in after Roger's divorce from Elizabeth. Shortly after both sisters move out, Susan leaves Roger and returns to her work as a geneticist. When Leisha learns there may be a procedure for transforming a born Sleeper into a Sleepless, Susan reviews the research but determines it is a fraud: “It's just that I thought maybe I could become what I created. Stupid idea, huh? All of literature shows that the creators can't become the creations” (203). Shortly thereafter, Susan dies of an inoperable brain condition.

Richard Keller is a first-generation Sleepless who dates Leisha on-and-off through their teenage and young adult years. Unlike many of the other Sleepless, Richard has no other genemods. After Tony is killed, Richard relocates to Sanctuary and later marries Jennifer, fathering their two children Ricky and Najla. While Richard initially aids and abets Jennifer's criminal activity, he eventually decides to testify against her. As a result of his betrayal, Richard is cast out of Sanctuary. He spends the rest of the novel traveling the world with his Sleeper wife Ada and their Sleeper son, Sean.