Character guide

Costantino Ledda

major

Also known as Costantino, poor Costantino, Saint Costantino, Ledda

Costantino returns to Orlei after prison to find his wife Giovanna married to another man, and his days dissolve into tavern generosity, sleepless nights, and a habit of concealment learned behind bars. He still loves Giovanna, yet knows the woman he loved no longer exists, and he drifts between secret meetings with her and a torpor he cannot shake. His quiet refusal to start over — or to strike back — makes him the still center around which the village's gossip and betrayals turn.

Giovanna Era

major

Also known as Giovanna

Giovanna lives as Brontu Dejas's wife while waging a silent war against her mother-in-law Martina, who hopes to catch her with Costantino. She tells Costantino she wants Brontu to divorce her so she can come back as his servant, but Costantino sees a woman changed by betrayal and no longer trusts her love. Her maneuvering between two husbands and two households drives the novel's central question of whether anything broken can be honestly repaired.

Giacobbe Dejas

supporting

Also known as Dejas

Giacobbe moves through Orlei as a man of property and cutting talk, the one Brontu confides in and the one who laughs loudest at him. He urges Brontu to marry a fresh young girl instead of a divorced woman, and later joins the friends who abandon the Eras' house in disgust. His mockery and his shifting loyalties make him a barometer of the village's moral weather — and a quiet antagonist to Costantino's attempts to reclaim his name.

Brontu Dejas

supporting

Also known as Brontu, Poor Brontu

Brontu pursued Giovanna from the beginning, praying Costantino would be convicted so he could have her, and now finds marriage to her hollow. He bullies and blusters when drunk, threatens old Isidoro in the road, and swings between maudlin need and violent temper. His jealousy and instability make him the fuse in a household already primed by Martina's scheming and Giovanna's coldness.

Aunt Bachissia

supporting

Also known as Bachissia

Aunt Bachissia runs her household with an iron will, outfitting Giovanna's remarriage in fine linen and kerchiefs even as the countryside gossips over the scandal. She drives Giacobbe Dejas from the house when he pleads against the divorce, and treats the ceremony as a point of family honor rather than shame. Her fierce, unapologetic management of appearances makes her both Giovanna's shield and the engine of the choices that will haunt her daughter.

Isidoro Pane

supporting

Also known as Uncle Isidoro, Isidoro, old Isidoro

Uncle Isidoro shares his hut and his meager catch with Costantino, urging him to marry again and find peace, though he knows the young man still meets Giovanna in secret. He is mocked in the road by drunken Brontu and gently pitied by the priest, yet he keeps his quiet watch over the man he calls a sick child. His tenderness and his dread give the novel its moral counterweight to the village's gossip and vengeance.

Aunt Martina Dejas

supporting

Also known as Aunt Martina, Martina Dejas, old Martina

Matriarch of the Dejas household, she lies propped among pillows in her chamber, directing the family's affairs and even hosting a baptismal feast from her bed. Suspicious and sharp-eyed, she fixes on Giovanna with a moral vigilance that makes the young wife's every movement feel watched. Her half-mad certainty that something illicit is happening turns private grief into a household siege, driving the secrecy on which the early story turns.

Aunt Porredda

supporting

Also known as Porredda, Poor Aunt Porredda

A superstitious, hard-working relative in whose home Giovanna takes refuge when Costantino is arrested, she bustles between kitchen, gallery, and courtyard trying to hold the family together. Her instinct is to scold grief into silence and call for reinforcements, yet she is genuinely tender toward the children and the disgraced. She matters because her cramped, devout household is the stage where Giovanna's loyalty and Costantino's absence are first measured against the village's judgment.

Grazia

supporting

Also known as Miss Grazia

A young woman of the neighborhood who receives shoes and small services from Costantino, she is shrewd enough to suspect his feelings for Giovanna without prying into them. Her discretion, or her willingness to look away, makes her a possible ally in a village where every wall has ears. She matters because she represents the narrow margin of privacy the lovers have left, and the small, unspoken bargains that keep a scandal from breaking open too soon.

Paolo Porru

minor

Also known as Paolo, the gifted Paolo

A talented but poor young man, son of Uncle Efes Maria.

Priest Elias

minor

Also known as Priest Elias Portolu

A local priest who counsels the community.

Mattea

minor

A servant or local woman, often mentioned in passing.

Uncle Efes Maria Porru

minor

Also known as Efes Maria, Maria, Porru

Father of Paolo Porru, a poor but proud man.

Doctor Puddu

minor

A local doctor who treats the sick.

Malthinu

minor

A local man, possibly a shepherd or laborer.

San Costantino

minor

Also known as Saint Costantino, Good San Costantino

A saint invoked by characters in prayer and tradition.

Anna Rosa Dejas

minor

Also known as Anna-Rosa, Aunt Anna-Rosa Dejas, Little Aunt Anna-Rosa

A quiet, religious aunt in the Dejas household.

Bachissia Era

minor

A relative of Giovanna Era, possibly her mother.

Minnia

minor

A young girl or servant in the village.

Don Serafino

minor

A local notable or priest, occasionally mentioned.

Arnolfo Bellini

minor

Also known as Bellini

A lawyer or official involved in legal matters.

Basile Ledda

minor

A relative of Costantino, possibly his father.

Zanchine

minor

A minor character, perhaps a nickname for a local.

Malthina Dejas

minor

A female member of the Dejas family.

Mamma Porru

minor

Also known as Mamma

Mother of Paolo Porru, a poor widow.

Maria Chicca

minor

A local woman, possibly a servant or neighbor.

Mariedda

minor

A young girl or servant in the village.