Characters
Paolo Ferrara
Infrastructure office, drew much of the zone map
Paolo Ferrara works in the infrastructure office and sits in on the meetings at the Prefecture. On the first day, Lena Voss doesn’t even remember his name, because in the first half hour he says nothing that amounts to a position. When the quake hits, all he does is turn his phone over. Later a map lies on the table that is largely his work: zones in red, orange, and yellow, with times, routes, and assembly points. He is in his early thirties, slim, with a ballpoint pen behind his ear and an ink stain on the heel of his hand. He doesn’t defend his work before anyone attacks it. When he disagrees with Lena, she takes him seriously.
First encounter
- First noticed: during the quake he reaches for his phone, turns it over, looks at the dark screen, and puts it back down
- Speaks: matter-of-factly, addresses Lena formally, turns her argument around and hands it back to her heavier; quote: “For traffic, it’s the same thing.”
- Object: the ballpoint pen behind his ear
Connected to
- Lena VossOceanographer at the ICRU in Hamburg, following a falling line
- Lorenzo De SantisRegional civil protection, chairs the meeting at the Prefecture
- Sofia EspositoVolcanologist at the Osservatorio Vesuviano, grew up in Pozzuoli
- Naples and PozzuoliA city in a volcano’s hollow, on ground that’s rising
Spoiler-free. This describes the starting point of the book named, without its major twists or resolutions.