An unnamed young man returning to his rural village in the Sudan. He hopes to find a sense of belonging and stability upon his return. His assumptions about his home shatter when he hears a stranger reciting fluent English poetry at the local bar. He eventually takes a job at the Department of Education in Khartoum, splitting his time between the city and his agricultural roots.

A handsome, fifty-year-old farmer who recently settled in Wad Hamid and married a local woman. He publicly presents himself as an ordinary agricultural worker, but he secretly possesses a British passport and a locked room in his house. He confesses to the narrator about his past in London as an economist and a profligate seducer of British women, heavily relying on orientalist fantasies to manipulate them.

A local woman from Wad Hamid with wide black eyes and a quiet, sad demeanor. Her marriage to a foreigner gives her an air of sophistication uncommon in the village. She possesses a fierce independent streak and openly threatens violence if she is forced into a marriage against her will.

The narrator's paternal grandfather. He is an energetic man in his nineties who lives in a mud house on the banks of the Nile. He represents the traditional, enduring life of Wad Hamid, carrying deep knowledge of the local history and the village residents.

The narrator's intelligent childhood friend who chose to farm rather than pursue higher education. He serves as the chairman of the Agricultural Project Committee. He fully accepts the patriarchal customs of Wad Hamid and provides practical, unsentimental advice.

A septuagenarian with a white beard, a thin nose, and a reputation for extreme promiscuity. He is a polygamist who continuously marries and divorces women. He speaks openly about his past exploits and aggressively mocks younger men who prefer monogamy.

A tall woman in her eighties with a charcoal complexion. She defies the standard gender expectations of her community by smoking publicly and speaking frankly about sex. She holds her own in crude banter with the village men.

An Englishwoman with a long face, wide eyes, and a large nose. She spends three years rejecting and humiliating her suitor before finally agreeing to marry him. Their dynamic consists of psychological warfare and physical violence.

A young woman from Hull who works as a waitress during the day while studying at night. She becomes one of the targets of a predatory seduction scheme in London.

A twenty-year-old student studying oriental languages at Oxford. Infatuated with fantasies of Africa, she approaches a lecturer and eagerly casts herself in the role of a subservient slave during their affair.

A married British woman and mother of three. She meets a stranger in Hyde Park and falls for his elaborate, romanticized stories about the Nile.

An Englishwoman living in Cairo who takes in a brilliant young student. She cares for him deeply but recognizes his emotional instability and his inability to experience genuine happiness.

An elderly man with a wrinkled face who frequently socializes at Hajj Ahmed's mud house. He acts as a voice of traditional moderation within his peer group.

A local resident of Wad Hamid. He holds the traditional patriarchal power to arrange marriages for his family members, a right strictly upheld by village custom.

The uncle of the narrator. He owns a beautiful but barren black donkey, loving the animal intensely despite knowing he was cheated during the purchase.