← To the world of Lena Voss

Characters

Broder

Cook on the FS Nordmark; on Sundays there’s cake

Broder is the cook on the FS Nordmark, a man with forearms like rope who sets a mug down in front of Lena Voss in the morning without a word. His sister lives in Krautsand on the Lower Elbe, on the seaward side of the dike. That’s why, on the second day of the voyage, he tells Lena what he expects of her: if she finds out something important, she should say it out loud. On Sundays he serves cake, always, even in a storm. He cuts it without plates, into pieces whose size depends on his assessment of each person. Lena gets a big piece because, in his view, she doesn’t eat enough.

First encounter

• First noticed: wiping down a surface that’s already clean
• Speaks: rarely, and then clearly; “If you find out something that matters, you say it out loud.”
• Object: the bag of raisins for the Sunday cake

Connected to

• Lena VossOceanographer at the ICRU in Hamburg, following a falling line
• ThodeShip’s doctor on the FS Nordmark, photographs fish
• Yuki TanakaClimate data analyst aboard the FS Nordmark, double-checks everything
• FS NordmarkLena’s research vessel in Book 1, captained by Kai Sörensen
• The Lower Elbe and the DikeThe land behind the dikes between Hamburg and the estuary

Spoiler-free. This describes the starting point of the book named, without its major twists or resolutions.