The Reader is a young, heterosexual man seeking a good story. After purchasing a defective copy of the latest book by Italo Calvino, he begins an obsessive search to find the missing endings of various novels. He is passionate about literature and quickly becomes infatuated with a fellow reader he meets during his journey.

The metafictional voice guiding the story. The Narrator speaks directly to "you" (The Reader), offering instructions on how to comfortably read the book and making assumptions about the Reader's life and habits. He establishes a familiar, conversational tone while managing the shifting structure of the text.

Known as the "Other Reader," Ludmilla is an avid, passionate consumer of literature who reads for the thrill and emotional experience. Her apartment is overflowing with books, reflecting her solitary but rich intellectual life. She is evasive about her personal life and prefers to maintain a strict boundary between reading books and the people who produce them.

A cynical and deceptive translator who operates a global counterfeiting scheme. He manipulates manuscripts, swaps authors, and invents texts to serve his own financial and conspiratorial interests. He believes the identity of an author is irrelevant and actively works to disrupt the integrity of literature.

An established author experiencing a severe bout of writer's block. He obsessively watches a female neighbor read on her deck, wishing he could write a book perfectly suited to her. He is plagued by paranoia, publisher demands, and the disturbing knowledge that counterfeiters are producing fake novels under his name.

Ludmilla's sister and a dedicated academic. She views literature primarily as material for university seminars and feminist critiques, preferring to analyze texts with computers rather than read them for pleasure. Her clinical, theoretical approach stands in sharp contrast to her sister's emotional investment in reading.

A student and friend of Ludmilla who claims to never read. Instead, he views books as physical objects, staring at the words until they lose their meaning. He uses the physical books he borrows from Ludmilla to construct art projects.

An academic specialist in the Department of Bothno-Ugaric Languages and Literature. He is a passionate but isolated expert in Cimmerian literature, a dead language from a defunct nation. He reads translation fragments aloud to the Reader, pausing frequently to explain linguistic details.

A long-time employee at a publishing house who has lost his personal enjoyment of reading. He views books as products of an institutional machine and feels overwhelmed by the chaos caused by Ermes Marana's fraudulent translations.

A woman the Reader encounters who constantly shifts her name and identity, referring to herself alternately as Gertrude, Ingrid, Alfonsina, and Sheila. She claims to be an undercover revolutionary operating within a complex network of fake police and institutions.

The Director General of the State Police Archives in Ircania. He believes in the power of the written word, arguing that authoritarian states revere literature more than anyone else because they actively censor and ban it.

The young author of the manuscript *What story down there awaits its end?*. He quietly slips pages of his work to the Reader in an Ircanian park just before being arrested by the state police.

A local woman who sells suitcases at a train station. She agrees to watch a stranger's luggage, pulling him further into a local mystery.

The local police chief in the first interlude story. He warns a stranger at the bar that a man named Jan has been killed and instructs him to board a departing train immediately.

The young protagonist of the fragment *Outside the town of Malbork*. He leaves home for the first time to work on an estate and feels intense jealousy over the boy taking his place in the village.

A young man sent to Kudigwa to escape a violent family feud in *Outside the town of Malbork*. He physically fights Gritzvi over a hidden photograph.

A farmer in *Outside the town of Malbork* who sends his son away to protect him from a violent feud. He also appears as a secretive meteorologist in the fragment *Leaning from the steep slope*.

A woman in *Leaning from the steep slope* who frequently visits a local prison. She asks the narrator to purchase a grapnel for her, initiating a chain of suspicious events.

A soldier and revolutionary who serves as the narrator of *Without fear of wind or vertigo*. He feels a strange harmony with fleeing civilians and carries a secret mission to uncover a spy within his own committee.

A fierce, armed revolutionary in *Without fear of wind or vertigo*. She holds significant control over her male companions and challenges the patriarchal dynamics of the revolution by demanding equal access to weaponry.

A revolutionary working at the Heavy Industry Commission in *Without fear of wind or vertigo*. He carries a pistol and works closely with his comrades during a chaotic evacuation.

The narrator of the French novel fragment *Looks down in the gathering shadow*. He possesses multiple passports and identities, seeking a fresh start while burdened by a violent past and a deep grudge against a former associate.

A character in *Looks down in the gathering shadow* who assists in moving a large plastic sack containing a body. She initiates a murder without knowing her partner's personal history with the victim.

The narrator of the South American novel fragment *Around an empty grave*. Following his father's death, he travels to Oquedal to uncover his family's history, stumbling into a web of secrets and old rivalries.

The daughter of Anacleta in the fragment *Around an empty grave*. She slips away from Nacho's advances, prompting discussions about Nacho's true background.

An Indigenous woman in Oquedal in *Around an empty grave*. She dodges direct questions about her past and her connection to her young visitor.

The wife of Mr. Okeda in the Japanese novel fragment *On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon*. She engages in a tense, silent seduction, pulling a guest into a complicated domestic scandal while her husband watches.

The youngest daughter of the Okeda family in *On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon*. She becomes frightened by intense advances and inadvertently discovers a shocking scene involving her mother.

The head of the household in *On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon*. He spends his time in his library doing research and maintains control over his family and guests through the silent threat of scandal.