The Cellist
The cellist is based on an actual person. In the novel, he remains unnamed and the only thing revealed about him is that he lives near a market and that he used to play for the National Opera before the war. The cellist is affected when he sees 22 people die outside his window during a bombing and he decides to commemorate the death of those people by playing Albinoni's Adagio every day for 22 days.
Arrow
Arrow is 28 years old and one of the best snipers in Sarajevo. She is intuitive and methodical, and sniping was not so much a skill she honed but something that came naturally to her. She is also very thoughtful, principled, and moral. While Arrow never wanted to become a sniper, she agreed to join the defenders of the city and bring her skill only if she could choose her own targets—soldiers, not civilians—and work alone. Protecting the cellist becomes very important to her and she succeeds, but this initiates a new phase in her career that means she is no long able to have the terms she wishes. She defies her new commander and flees rather than turn into a person she would not recognize at the end of the war. At the end, when the soldiers come for her, she announces her true name—Alisa.
Kenan
Kenan is a 40-year-old man who lives in Sarajevo together with his wife and with his children. Every few days, Kenan has to take the dangerous road to the brewery to get water for his family and for one of his neighbors. Kenan tries to be brave for his family but he is just as scared as anyone else. He is angry with himself because he had avoided being drafted into the military because he did everything he could to avoid becoming a soldier. He thinks that he disappointed his country by refusing to fight but at the same time he does not regret doing everything he can to protect his family.
Dragan
Dragan is a 62-year-old civilian who works at a bakery. Because of his job, Dragan was not forced to become a soldier as many other men were. His wife and son were able to escape to Italy before the siege became too intense, but Dragan stayed. Every day, Dragan must take a dangerous road to his bakery and he has to pass through several intersections that are targeted by snipers. One of his friends, Emina, is shot and he does not rush to help her; this causes him consternation even though he he knows the men on the hills have bludgeoned much of one's impulse to help others at the cost of one's own safety. In the last chapter, Dragan is once more ready to cross but instead of running in fear, he walks slowly, as if taking a stroll. That action, he notes, represents his decision to stop fearing the snipers and his decision to live his life the best he can without wondering when he will die.
Emina
Emina is a friend of Dragan and his wife; Dragan found her very affable and enjoyed spending time with her before the war but did not like her husband, Jovan. Emina has retained a strong sense of empathy and solicitude toward her fellow civilians even during the siege, which causes Dragan to admire her. She is shot and nearly killed trying to cross the intersection, but it is implied she survives.
Mrs. Ristovski
Mrs. Ristovski is one of Kenan’s neighbors whom he agreed to help by bringing her water whenever he goes to bring water for his family. She is a widow who lost her husband during the Second World War and even though Kenan does not like her because she is nosy, entitled, and opinionated, he still tries to help her.
Ismet
Ismet is Kenan’s friend who decided to join the army; Kenan admires him for this.
Nermin Filipovic
Nermin Filipovic is Arrow’s commander who tells her to protect the cellist. He is described as a good man who tries to do anything he can to make sure that his people still maintain their humanity at the end of the war; he does not want to blur the line between civilian and soldier.
Amila
Amila is Kenan’s wife.
Jovan
Jovan is Emina’s husband. He does not appear in the novel, as he is part of the military. Dragan finds him unlikable, and Emina herself seems to be ambivalent about him.
Raza
Raza is Dragan’s wife who is in Italy together with her son, Davor.
Davor
Davor is Dragan’s son who lives in Italy with his mother.
Hasan
Hasan is the sniper to whom Arrow is assigned by the Colonel. Even though Arrow finds Hasan companionable enough (they are about the same age and discuss their fathers), when he tells Arrow to kill a civilian, she balks and departs, even with his warnings ringing in her ears.
Colonel Edin Karaman
The Colonel is a military man defending the city whom Arrow is placed under the supervision of, but he is a hard man who does not share her views on the distinction between civilian and soldier. It is clear that he orders her death at the end of the novel after she refuses to adhere to his command.
