Hiroko Tanaka, a.k.a. Hiroko Ashraf

Hiroko Tanaka, who later becomes Hiroko Ashraf, is the only character in the novel who appears in all four of the main sections. Hiroko is naturally gifted at speaking different languages, and frequently creates meaningful friendships with other people from different races and cultures. In her young adulthood, Hiroko begins a romance with a German man named Konrad Weiss in her Japanese hometown of Nagasaki. This romance is interrupted when the American military deploys a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, killing Konrad.

A few years later, Hiroko visits the family of Konrad's sister, Ilse, in Delhi, India. There she meets Sajjad, a native Indian who eventually proposes to her. Shortly after their honeymoon, however, the couple is prevented from returning to India, and build a life in Pakistan, giving birth to a son, Raza. Sajjad is tragically killed when he attempts to find...