Alice

Alice, when the novel begins, is a 25-year-old editorial assistant at a publishing house called Gryphon in New York City. (Over the course of the novel's first section, she is promoted to associate editor, but shortly before the section ends we learn that she is planning to give notice at her job.) She begins a romantic relationship with the famous and critically acclaimed writer Ezra Blazer, who is much older than her and whom she meets one day while reading in a park. Their relationship is the subject of the novel's first section.

Alice is originally from Massachusetts. Her father is prone to conspiracy theories and doomsday scenarios, and he frequently calls her to tell her his latest thoughts on these topics. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she has a stepfather -- toward the end of the section we learn that her stepfather was a...