In A City of Bells the author introduces the Fordyce family, an odd collection of characters. There is Grandfather, small and twinkly, slightly uneasy being Canon of the Cathedral after a lifetime of slum ministry; Grandmother, a stickler for the proprieties; Hugh Anthony, an orphaned grandson and a curious incorrigible at eight; Henrietta, ten, an orphan with a loving nature; and Jocelyn, a grown grandson, newly home from the Boer War.