Moses Sweetland

Moses Louis Sweetland is a resident of the island of Sweetland and the novel's main character. The entire story is told from his internal perspective, from a third person limited point of view. His thoughts, flashbacks and internal language drive the novel. He was born on November 14, 1942, and is 69 years old at the beginning of the novel. His parents and siblings are all dead. Clara is his niece, and Jesse is his great-nephew. He has never married, though as a youth, he had budding romances with Queenie Coffin and Effie Priddle. He was present at the deaths of his father, his mother and his brother.

Sweetland has spent his whole life living on the island, except for two stints working near Toronto. On the second of these employments off-island, he was seriously burned in an accident, and has severe scarring on one side of his face and...