Some More Characters/Explanation

Because I only talked about two of the characters in my first post, I figured that describing the rest of the story's characters would be a good idea.  Hopefully the character explanation will also help to give more plot detail.

Alma Singer:  Is the character whose point of view comes in directly after Leo's.  She is a teenage girl who is named after Leo's childhood sweetheart (who moved from Poland to Brooklyn and married another man).  Alma's mother named her after Leo's Alma because she read and enjoyed one of the few published copies of The History of Love (which Leo wrote because of his childhood romance with Alma).  Alma Singer is not your typical teenage girl.  She is fascinated with being able to survive in the wild and has learned how to do so by reading books.  Her interest in outdoorsy stuff comes from her father, who traveled the world and died of pancreatic cancer when Alma was younger.  Alma often thinks about, making it clear that he has a large influence on who she is. She also tries very hard to draw attention to her mother and set her up with men because she thinks her mother is in need of a new husband.  She actually tries to setup her mom with Leo's son, Isaac, who asks her mom to translate The History of Love.  She sets out to meet the author of The History of Love and unexpectedly meets Leo and realizes that he is the real author.

Bird: Is Alma's little brother.  He's a little odd (i.e., thinks that he is a Lamed Vovnik), but is much like Alma.  He has a minor role in the story, but he plays an important role in Alma's life.  His character is told through Alma's point of view.

Alma's mom:  Spends her days inside translating written works.  Alma says that her mom chose to hold onto her father's memory instead of moving on.  Because of this, she is very attached to Alma and Bird and does not have a very eventful or purposeful life.  Coincidentally, Leo's son, Isaac, contacts her and asks her to translate The History of Love to English because he suspects that it is about his father and mother.  This interaction is how the character's stories are able to connect when Alma finds out who Leo is.  Her character is also told through Alma's point of view.

Zvi:  Is Leo's childhood friend from Poland.  When the book shifts to his story, it is told through a third person POV instead of first person.  Leo gave Zvi his manuscript of The History of Love before they were forced to go different paths because of the war.  Zvi figured that Leo died in the war, so he published The History of Love and took credit for the story.  The book was never successful for Zvi and fell into the hands of Alma's father when he came across a copy in a second-hand store.

This story is a little difficult to explain, but basically all of the characters are connected to each other because of Leo's book, The History of Love, which I think is really cool.