خالتي صفية والدير

A beautiful orphaned village girl raised by the narrator's family, who loves her cousin Harby but marries a wealthy, much older village bey instead.

Safiya's handsome, well-regarded cousin, expected to marry her but oblivious to her feelings, who later comes under suspicion from her husband over their newborn son.

Safiya and the bey's son, whose upbringing and an attempt on his safety become a turning point in the village's tensions.

A Coptic monk at the neighboring monastery, remembered by the narrator as the friendliest of the monks and a mediating presence between the village's Muslim and Christian communities.