Born female and heavily burdened by her father's desire for a son, Bekija is a young Albanian woman who takes a vow of lifelong chastity to become a "sworn virgin" under the laws of the Kanun. Adopting the male name Matija, she gains the rights and freedoms of a man to escape a forced marriage. She lives an isolated life marked by chronic abdominal pain, deeply haunted by the traumatic choices she made to survive in a rigidly patriarchal society.

The stern patriarch of the family and a staunch adherent to the unyielding patriarchal code of the Kanun. Murash is deeply disappointed by having daughters and obsessively desires a male heir, a fixation that warps his family dynamic. He breeds pigeons and eventually becomes consumed with building the largest dovecote in Albania, prioritizing traditional family honor above the individual lives of his children.

Bekija's younger brother, a sensitive and artistic individual who prefers dancing and sewing to hunting. Because he rejects the hyper-masculine ideals of the Kanun, he becomes an outcast in his own family and a frequent target of his father's anger. His inability to perform violent masculinity positions him in stark contrast to the patriarchal world he was born into.

A young woman visiting the village from Bulgaria who brings books, emotional openness, and a glimpse of the outside world. Dhana represents a life of freedom and knowledge that exists completely outside the suffocating confines of the Albanian mountains and the Kanun. She provides the protagonist with a rare space of genuine connection, tenderness, and intimacy.

The quietly suffering matriarch of the family whose life is dictated by the rigid patriarchal society she inhabits. She is a mostly passive observer of her family's unfolding tragedies, with her presence marked by domestic actions and minimal dialogue. She embodies the severe lack of options available to women under the Kanun.

A village man whose arranged betrothal to Bekija sets off a catastrophic chain of events. His family's honor is deeply insulted when the wedding is cancelled, initiating a destructive blood feud according to the ancient laws of the Kanun.

A local man known as the village idiot whose childlike demeanor masks a capacity for sudden violence. His actions in the village dairy directly precipitate the protagonist's desperate decision to renounce her female identity to survive the strictures of the Kanun.

A female reporter visiting the remote Albanian mountains. She seeks to interview Matija and record the fading traditions of the sworn virgins, inadvertently forcing Matija to confront buried secrets by reading aloud a series of old, unread letters.