The Old Man Who Read Love Stories characters

Appears from the start

An elderly settler living alone in El Idilio, a remote outpost on the edge of the Amazonian forest. Years spent among the Shuar taught him how to move through the jungle and respect its dangers. He reads romantic novels slowly and with intense concentration, preferring distant tales of love to the crude life around him.

Also known as the mayor, the Slug

Appears from the start

The unpopular official who governs El Idilio. Sweaty, loud, and contemptuous of local knowledge, he is quick to issue orders but poorly equipped to understand the forest or the people who depend on it.

Appears from the start

A travelling dentist who visits El Idilio by riverboat to extract teeth for the isolated settlement. He is Antonio's friend and brings him the sentimental novels that have become his chief pleasure.

First appears in chapter 3

Antonio's wife, who accompanies him when the young couple leave the mountains for a government settlement in the Amazon. Their difficult early years in the forest shape the solitary life Antonio later leads.

First appears in chapter 3

A Shuar man who becomes Antonio's closest companion during the years when the community accepts the settler into its way of life. His friendship is central to Antonio's understanding of the forest and of the boundary between belonging and merely being welcomed.

First appears in chapter 2

A large female cat driven into conflict with humans after hunters kill her mate and cubs. Antonio recognizes purpose rather than random savagery in her attacks and understands that stopping her will require patience and respect for a formidable animal.