Havaa
The small girl who is only eight when war ravaged her home. The Russians burned her home down and stole her father from her. She lives with Sonja in town.
Akhmed
This neighbor rescued Havaa when the Russians abducted her father and burned her house down.
Sonja
A skilled doctor, so skilled she can suture a wound with dental floss, but an ethnic Russian. Her toleration in the enemy territory is the consequence of her free medical support to the war-torn village.
Natasha
The sister of Sonja, and an ethnic Russian whose life is uprooted by the Chechen wars, causing her to seek an escape through prostitution.
The neighbor's son
The novel includes a grim account of torture. The reason Havaa's father has been abducted is that he was informed upon by the son of a neighbor, a son who was captured and tortured for intel by the Russians.
