Marta Eisenstein

Marta is the narrator of the novel, and frames her narration as a reflection of her childhood and adolescence on the occasion of the eightieth birthday. Marta is the daughter of Solomon and Rachel Eisenstein, and has an older brother, Noah, and a younger sister, Helen, who passes away when she is a young child. Marta is born on Barren Shoal and grows up there, occasionally traveling back and forth across the bay to Brooklyn or Manhattan, especially as she gets older. Through comments she makes during her primary narration, it is revealed that Marta eventually marries a man named Walter and has several children and grandchildren.

Marta's family is of Jewish descent, and her parents are immigrants, though Marta is a United States citizen. Her Jewish heritage informs much of her perspective on the world, as her understanding of Jewish oppression through history and the rise...