Krystal Weedon

Krystal Weedon was one of the central characters of The Casual Vacancy. She was first seen in a flashback to primary school, when she and the other teenage characters were five years old. Even then, she showed strength of character and a tendency to get into trouble.

Through most of the novel she was sixteen years old. She lived in The Fields housing estate and thus came from a severely disadvantaged background. Her mother, Terri, was a junkie and sometime prostitute and often neglected her and her brother Robbie. Despite this, fueled in part by her unexpected talent for rowing, she dreamed of a better life away from her mother, perhaps taking her beloved younger brother Robbie with her. Her hopes in this were first shattered by Barry Fairbrother's death, and they rapidly unraveled...

Personality
Having had little parental guidance, Krystal's behaviour was often rough and raw. She swore regularly and was often prone to lash out at those that she felt had done her wrong. Despite this, she possessed natural physical talent and displayed an aptitude for rowing. She cared deeply for her brother Robbie, but was tragically un-equipped to rescue him, or herself, from desperate circumstances. Her language was loaded with profanity and obscenities, but she was capable of speaking respectfully when she tried and when she felt others deserved respect.