Moraes "Moor" Zogoiby
This namesake is the main character, a person with a strange disease that makes him age twice as fast, which means that his life is also twice as short, and he also has a deformed hand, making him differently abled. He is interested in his ancestry, in the history of the Moors, and he learns about the fall of Granada." Once, he fell in love.
Uma
This is Moor's secret flame whom he adored. She was a sculptor, so whereas he struggled to use her hands, she was an expert with her hands and a true artist. She was surprising to him, he remembers. As an artist, she was particularly spontaneous. The reader learns her story near the end of the book, implying that perhaps the relationship did not work out.
Aurora
Aurora is Moor's mother. Ironically, she will probably have to watch her own son die before her, and she knows it. This shapes their time together, and Aurora tells Moor anything he wants to know about himself, about the family, about the history of their people, and about the fall of the Moors. Aurora is an important artist herself, and a painter of history.
