Leif

Leif is an orphan who provides the sole perspective for much of the novel. He is not educated in the traditional ways, but he is highly intelligent in ways that matter in his world. He is aware that he needs to learn more about this world to survive. At one point, he realizes that he is “learning how to learn,” which is a vital part of that survival. He is young – probably in his early teens. His exact age is never revealed, though he has memories from the summer he was 12-years-old. He could be older; but, clearly, he is quite young.

Leif had a brutal early life. His father died before he was born, and his mother died in childbirth. He was raised by a kind woman named Grace, but he spent most of his childhood being held prisoner on ships where men beat him whenever they...