Disappearing Earth

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

Marina Alexandrovna, a journalist in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

Alyona, her older daughter

Sophia, her younger daughter

Alla Innokentevna, head of a cultural center in the village of Esso

Natalia, called Natasha, her oldest daughter

Denis, her middle child and only son

Lilia, her youngest daughter

Revmira, her second cousin, a nurse

Lev and Yulia, called Yulka, Natasha’s children

Ksenia, called Ksyusha, a university student

Sergei, called Chegga, her brother, a photographer

Ruslan, Ksyusha’s boyfriend

Nadezhda, called Nadia, Chegga’s girlfriend

Ludmila, called Mila, Nadia’s daughter

Nikolai Danilovich, called Kolya, a police detective

Zoya, his wife, on maternity leave from her work at a national park

Alexandra, called Sasha, their baby

Oksana, a researcher at the volcanological institute

Maxim, called Max, a researcher at the volcanological institute

Ekaterina, called Katya, a customs officer for the city’s maritime container port

Yevgeny Pavlovich Kulik, the major general of the Kamchatka police force

Anfisa, an administrative assistant for the police

Valentina Nikolaevna, an office administrator for a city elementary school

Diana, Valentina Nikolaevna’s daughter

Lada, a receptionist at a city hotel

Olga, called Olya, a schoolgirl