The Book of Lost Hours

Ernest is a CIA agent whose father founded the Temporal Reconnaissance Program (TRP), working with Ezekiel to manipulate time and memory to benefit the United States government. As a result, Ernest largely inherits his initial worldview from his father. He works alongside Jack and the other timekeepers, finding “dangerous” memories and destroying them. Although he is believed to be dead at the novel’s start, he is in truth being hidden by Moira, a necessity that stems from the growth and development Ernest experienced after meeting Lisavet. As a result of this relationship, he began to question Jack’s methods, refusing to kidnap Lisavet or destroy her book, and then started saving pages of the books he was supposed to destroy in order to preserve the memories within them.

Ernest’s relationship with Lisavet is thus the central force of his transformation. Through her, he encounters a radically different philosophy of memory—one grounded in compassion and respect rather than control. Loving Lisavet exposes the emotional cost of his work, forcing him to confront the personal impact of what he is doing. His growing discomfort with the CIA parallels his growing intimacy with her, and his decision to lie to Jack signals his first act of resistance. When Lisavet erases herself from his memories, the loss paradoxically furthers his change: Although he cannot remember her, her influence persists, enabling him to memory walk, save fragments of history, and feel an unnamed longing that guides his actions.

As Ernest moves into leadership roles, his rebellion becomes more intentional. He collaborates with Vasily and later Anton, envisioning a world where memories are freed from government oversight. His belief that even a single idea, Lisavet’s memory, can change history reflects his rejection of fatalism and his embrace of hope. Unlike Jack, who sees war and the pursuit of power as justification for erasure, Ernest views preservation as a moral imperative. His love for Amelia further grounds his choices, transforming simple resistance into a personal responsibility.

Although Ernest does not sacrifice himself in the novel, his willingness to do so to destroy the time space demonstrates his ultimate rejection of bureaucracy, Jack, and government control. Rather than controlling memory, he seeks to dismantle the system entirely, even at the cost of his own existence. While Moira largely acquiesces to Jack’s demands and unwillingly works alongside him, Ernest remains firm in his belief in The Destructive Nature of War. His development illustrates how love, memory, and even grief can reshape belief systems, transforming obedience into resistance and giving someone a purpose that is larger than simply the need to survive.

Amelia is initially introduced as Ernest’s niece, though it is later revealed that she is the child of Ernest and Lisavet. Amelia was born to Lisavet and then given to Ernest’s sister to raise, as Lisavet learned that she could not do so while remaining in the time space. Because Amelia was born in the time space, she possesses the ability to live outside of time, walking through living memories and even freezing time itself.

When Amelia is first introduced, she is defined by loss. She was orphaned first by her adoptive mother’s death and then by Ernest’s and is ostracized by her classmates as a result. She is guarded and defensive, refusing to enter the time space or help Moira because of all that she has been through. Under pressure from both Moira and Jack, she ultimately enters the time space and risks her life in her confrontations with Anton.

As the novel progresses, Amelia takes control of her own life. She stands up to Jack, first in her home and then in James’s shop, and discovers her ability to stop time with his gun pointed at her. Her character thus conveys both the importance of autonomy and using that autonomy for the greater good. Although she is largely a flat character, she is important as a foil to Lisavet. While Lisavet largely avoids her grief and loss, manipulating memories and destroying history in her efforts to keep control, Amelia’s character emphasizes The Importance of Accepting Grief and Loss. She immediately sides with Anton, James, and Ernest in the rebellion and then reaffirms her commitment to their cause by helping to destroy the time space. When she visits it one final time at the novel’s end, she turns away from it, conveying her understanding that history is not something to be manipulated or controlled, even to avoid pain and sorrow.

Jack is the novel’s primary antagonist. In Lisavet’s timeline, he is the head of the TRP, acting as Ernest’s and eventually Moira’s boss in the CIA. In Amelia’s timeline, he is the director of the CIA but still trying to manipulate and control Moira as she seeks to uncover the truth about Ernest and the rebellion. He is a largely flat character, serving mostly as a one-dimensional villain fixated on controlling history through Moira, his timekeepers, and the time space—the ultimate representation of How Power Shapes the Historical Record. His primary characteristic is his ruthlessness, as he encourages Ernest to kill Lisavet, forcibly removes her from the time space when Ernest won’t, and sexually assaults Moira to assert his control over her. In this way, he is a physical embodiment of authoritarian state power, lacking empathy and asserting control through violence and manipulation. As Moira notes, Jack’s “arrogance” is ultimately his downfall. He believes that he has control over Moira and Jack throughout the novel, failing to see that they are using his own tactics against him to gain control of the time space.

Azrael is the world’s first timekeeper and the one who discovered the time space. He explains to Lisavet that he did so “through sundials and meditations” before his people were conquered by the Romans (13), who then stole his knowledge and systematized the time space for the first time (a backstory that establishes the time space’s relationship with empire and cultural erasure). He now exists in the time space as a memory, his consciousness floating freely so that it is accessible to timekeepers who need his knowledge. When he tells Lisavet that his name has been forgotten, as it was not a useful part of his identity to the timekeepers, Lisavet chooses the name “Azrael” after “[t]he Judeo-Christian angel of death” (15). Azrael’s name thus reflects his primary role in the text: He serves as a guide to the time space in both timelines.

Azrael is both a literal and metaphorical connection between timelines. He is a reminder to both the reader and the characters that time and memory are circular, emphasizing the interconnectedness of events. While he repeatedly claims neutrality, as when he tells Amelia that he knows where Lisavet’s book is but will not help her find it, he also intentionally intervenes: He later takes Amelia and Anton to the book, allowing them to see Lisavet’s history, while also bringing Ernest and Vasily together over their shared desire to preserve memories. In this way, Azrael serves as a guardian of time itself, conveying the idea that history itself resists efforts to erase it. His death at the novel’s end is not framed in tragic terms; he has always been philosophical regarding death and accepts his own when it becomes clear that it will prevent further historical manipulation.

James is a Black timekeeper who is part of the rebellion against government intervention in and manipulation of history. Initially, his loyalties are uncertain, as he is framed as antagonistic to Moira, Jack, and the CIA. However, it is later revealed that Moira and Ernest are working both against the CIA and KGB and with James to stop the manipulation of the time space. Although James is a minor character, he voices the impact of the erasure of history. As he explains to Amelia, he refuses to work with the CIA because of the way the agency ignores, alters, or destroys Black history when it does not match the narrative that the CIA is trying to write. James’s character personifies the fight against historical manipulation, giving the reader a concrete example of who is impacted by it.