Lyddie Worthen is the novel’s titular protagonist. She is an intelligent, resourceful, and tenacious 13-year-old girl from rural Vermont facing the dissolution of her family and the loss of her family farm. Since her father left their family four years ago, Lyddie has assumed responsibility for caring for her younger brother, two younger sisters, and profoundly incapacitated mother whose symptoms of mental illness have been drastically increasing in recent years. Lyddie’s primary objective throughout the novel is to work as a weaver at the Concord Corporation textile mill and save up enough money to pay off the debts on her family’s property and reclaim their home. Despite her lack of worldliness, Lyddie exhibits a high level of maturity for her age and historical context; she has an incredible work ethic and a commitment to her siblings, whom she largely considers to be her own children. Lyddie is described as being of average height, lean but muscular and strong. She expresses, in a humorous manner, her opinion that she is not physically attractive and in fact repels the male gaze. Her peers and those around her don’t seem to share this opinion, but they don’t try to correct her.