Lina Vilkas
Lina Vilkas is the major character in the book and also the narrator. Lina is fifteen years old when she is taken prisoner by the NKVD and it will take thirteen years until she will be able to return to her home. Lina is a strong character who wants to be like her father in all aspects of life but her radical ideas put her in danger with the Soviet Union. Lina has a passion for drawing and she will continue to draw and develop artistically despite being a prisoner in a work camp. Lina refuses to compromise and give up her ideas and this makes the relationship between her and Andrius tense. Lina is very close to her family and she is willing to risk everything for them and she doesn’t hesitate to go begging for food when they run out and her mother is sick. Lina channels her anger through her drawings and it is the way she manages to survive life in the work camp. Lina survives the camp but only about two years of her experience are recorded by her letters and drawings.
Elena Vilkas
Elena is Jonas and Lina’s mother, a woman from a wealthy family and the wife of a university professor. Elena is extremely caring and she is willing to do everything to ensure the wellbeing of her children and other people she traveled with. Elena doesn’t hesitate to offer what little she has to those around her even if that meant not having enough food to eat. Elena manages to keep her children positive and in high spirits no matter the circumstance and has influences those around her as well. Elena loves her husband and she never betrays his memory by sleeping with other men even when she thinks that he died. Towards the end of the novel, Elena gets sick as a result of lack of food, warm clothes and a proper place to sleep and she eventually dies. The love the people have for her becomes obvious when they refuse to throw her body out like they did with the rest of the people that died and they offer her a proper burial despite the harsh weather outside. Elena’s way of living continues to influence Lina even after her mother died and she continues to live thinking about her mother every day.
Jonas Vilkas
Jonas is the youngest in the Vilkas family, a boy of ten when he is arrested with his mother and sister. Naïve and innocent, Jonas is forced to grow up rapidly in order to survive. At first he doesn’t realize the danger he is in but he soon realizes how much his situation changed and tries to adapt to it. Andrius become a father figure for the young boy and even though Lina is not happy to see how Andrius influence Jonas she recognizes that her brother needs to have an older male figure in his life. Jonas adapts to his new life better than Lina did and he even made efforts to learn Russian so he could communicate better with the guards and officers. Despite his young age, he is required to work and he is put to make shoes and chop wood for the NKVD. The people Jonas ends up working with take a liking in him so they let him take the scraps of wood of leather that remain behind so Jonas is able to make his family shoes and to keep them warm. Jonas almost died twice because of scurvy but he survives every time.
Andrius Arvydas
Andrius is a teenager taken prisoner alongside with his mother and among the passengers Lina meets during the train ride to the working camp. Andrius was the son of a military officer who disappeared just like Kostas did. To save him from being separated from her, Andrius’ mother lied to the NKVD officers and convinced them that her son was mentally disabled. Andrius becomes something akin a mentor for Jonas and helps the young boy adapt to the new environment even though his methods are frowned upon by Lina. Andrius and Lina enter a relationship around Lina’s birthday and they become close to one another. Andrius began bringing them food or wood and when the two are separated they promise to find one another again one day. Andrius suffers because his mother agreed to have sex with the NKVD officers to save herself and her son and Andrius despises those who look down on her because of it. The epilogue reveals that Andrius and Lina meet again and that they eventually got married.
Mrs. Arvydas
Mrs. Arvydas is Andrius’ mother, an attractive women who was married to an officer. After her husband was taken away, Andrius and she were arrested and deported to a work camp. To ensure her son’s safety, Mrs. Arvydas agreed to sleep with NKVD officers. This meant that they had a better situation than the rest of the people in the camp because they were better fed, sheltered and had enough clothes. Many looked down on Mrs. Arvydas because of her decision but Elena understood that Mrs. Arvydas had to do everything she could to save her son. But her relationship with the officers did not save her from being beaten and Lina mentions times when she saw Andrius comforting his injured mother.
Kostas Vilkas
Kostas is an important character in the novel despite the fact that he only appears once. Kostas is Elena’s husband and Jonas and Lina’s father, a university teacher and a man with strong political views. When it becomes clear that the Soviets will eventually take Lithuania, Kostas and other men hold secret meetings to discuss the future of the country. Kostas is a man always ready to help and her doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice his freedom and his family’s freedom to save his relatives. Kostas tries to protect his family but in the end they are all taken prisoners. During their captivity, Elena, Jonas and Lina think fondly about Kostas thus proving that he was loved by his family. Kostas was always supportive of Lina’s artistic talent and whenever Lina thought about giving up she remembered her father and his memory gave her strength. Towards the end of the novel, Elena is told that Kostas was executed but weather the information was true or not remains unclear.
Joana Vilkas
Joana is a character that doesn’t appear in the novel but is mentioned often by Lina. Joana is Lina’s cousin and best friend, a bright young girl who hoped to one day become a doctor. One of Joana’s parents was from Germany so Kostas made it possible for them to return to Germany before the beginning of the war. Because he helped them, Kostas and his family were imprisoned so Lina feels remorse when thinking about her cousin because she sees Joana as the reason why she and her family had to suffer.
Mr. Stalas
Most commonly referred to as the bald man, Mr. Stalas is an elderly man who used to work as a postman before being taken prisoner. He is a negative person and tries to kill himself shortly after being taken prisoner by jumping out of the truck transporting them. He breaks his leg but doesn’t die so he arrives at the same camp as Elena and her children. The bald man survives the first camp and is chosen to be deported to the second camp. Despite his negative attitude, he is always willing to let others use his hut to gather during Christmas or during Lina’s birthday. He reveals that he is Jewish and he is among the only characters in the book who doesn’t shy away from telling the other prisoners how he thinks everything will end.
Ona
Ona is a young woman who is taken prisoners minutes after giving birth to her baby. Her husband was a soldier in the military so he was among the first ones to be taken away. Ona tries to take care of her small child but because they do not have access to medical help, water and food, the small child dies after a few days. After the death of her child, Ona loses her mind and when they arrive at the work camp she attacks the commander officer who kills her on the spot.
Miss Grybas
Miss Grybas is another prisoner taken by the NKVD. Before becoming a prisoner, she was a schoolteacher she took upon herself to take care of the children, and make sure they were entertained by reading them stories. Miss Grybas is among the people who refused to sign the contract the Soviets wanted them to sign and despite her sometimes cold demeanor she is described as a good person.
Dr. Samodurov
Dr. Samodurov is a character that appears only at the end of the novel, after Elena’s death. He is a doctor who comes to the camp after a soldier deserted and talked about the harsh conditions inside the camps. Dr. Samodurov starts taking care of the sick right away and he is the one who nurses Jonas back to health. Dr. Samodurov is inspired form a real life doctor who during the Second World War and not only helped those inside the camps and militated for their right to be treated as human beings.
Komorov
Komorov is the commander of the NKVD and he is described as being a cruel man who enjoys torturing his prisoners. Komorov is from the first day with his prisoners and he accompanies them during the long journey north. He is the one who kills Ona after her child dies and the one who makes the prisoners spend their nights awake because they refused to sign documents that would mean that they agreed with their sentence and would bind them to work for the Soviet Union for a period of 25 years. When he discovers that Lina has a talent for drawing, he puts her to work for him, drawing portraits, maps and photographs.
Janina
Janina is a young girl who is taken prisoner with her mother. At one point, Janina’s mother tries to kill her because she believed it would be better for the young girl to die than spend the rest of her life in captivity. Towards the end of the novel, Janina gets sick just like Jonas and is saved by Dr. Samodurov. It is uncertain wheatear he survived the camps or not as the author doesn’t offer any more information about her.
Nikolai Kretszky
Nikolai is a soldier who just like the others enjoys torturing the prisoners inside the camp. His attitude changes suddenly and Elena and Nikolai become something akin to friends. Lina is not able to understand how it happened and Jonas even accuses his mother of sleeping with Nikolai. When Elena and the others are moved, Nikolai also is chosen to go and Elena tells Lina that the reason he was chosen was because he saved Elena from being raped by a fellow soldier. After Elena dies, Nikolai deserts from the camp and alerts the high-ranking officials about the conditions inside the camp so they send help in the form of Dr. Samodurov. In a way, Nikolai is the reason why Lina survives in the camp.
Ulyushka
Ulyushka is a woman who live in the northern part of Russia where Elena and her children are taken. The NKVD maker her share her hut with Elena and her children when the place where she lived is transformed into a labor camp. Ulyushka is described as being generally unpleasant and did not agree to have strangers live in her hut witch maker her behave even more harshly with Elena and her children. Ulyushka demands rent from Elena so she and her children are careful when they have food to not be seen by her. Despite this, when Elena is deported once more, Ulyushka gives them food and other gifts to help them survive the journey.
Ivanov
Ivanov is a cruel NKVD guard who likes to torture the prisoners under his care. He is the one who tells Elena that her husband was killed. Many prisoners and even guards advice Elena not to believe him as he was known for spreading rumors he knew would hurt the prisoners.
Mrs. Rimas
Mrs. Rimas is a woman taken prisoner at the same time when Elena and her children were. Mrs. Rimas remains a constant figure in the novel until the end as she is taken to the same places where Elena and her children are taken. Mrs. Rimas was a librarian who was separated from her husband for an unknown reason and taken to a labor camp. Mrs. Rimas takes care of the children during the train ride and she tells them stories to help them cope better. She is also the one who takes care of Elena during her last days.
Mrs. Rimas is also the woman who threw Ona's child out of the "bathroom hole". She said " its easier for someone who isn't attached "
