Books of Jacob | Slow read | Who's Who
The essential characters of the Books of Jacob
Welcome to the 2025 slow read of Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob.
In this post, I introduce you to fourteen main characters who you will meet on this “fantastic journey across seven borders, five major languages and three major religions, not counting the minor sects.”
There are more than 120 characters in the novel, and most are drawn from real historical personages. Those historical personages include Jacob Frank, after whom the novel is named. You will also glimpse French and Polish Kings, Empress Maria Therese of Austria, and key figures in European history from the 1640s to the French Revolution.
These characters are exceptionally vibrant, complex and realistic. Unlike many historical novels, Tokarczuk’s women characters are independent, rounded and compelling. Characterisation is one of Tokarczuk’s greatest gifts.
You will hear the real voices of these characters and historical personages. The Books of Jacob has many narrators and voices to keep track of. You will get to know Jacob primarily through the eyes of these other characters. Their fates intertwine. Their names change when they convert faiths, cross borders, and change their national or cultural identities.
A list of characters can help you keep track of the intriguing story. Here is my list of fourteen of the most compelling characters, all of whom we meet in Book One, “The Book of Fog”.
The list has no spoilers.
Jacob Frank
The central figure of the novel is a charismatic Jewish guru who claims to be the Messiah. Or is he really a psychopath? He leads a religious movement that blends elements of mystical Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was born Yankiele Leybowicz, and adopted the name Jacob Frank as an adult, prophet and convert.
Yente
Yente is Jacob's grandmother, who at the start of the novel swallows a Kabbalistic amulet and becomes an omniscient narrator. She observes the events of the novel from a state between life and death. She links us to a longer history.
Hannah Frank (born Tovah)
Hannah (also known as Hanele) is the daughter of the spiritual leader, Yehuda Tova haLevi (Tovah). She grew up in Nikopol and was married to Jacob Frank as a teenager when her father saw promise in his movement.
Avacha or Eva Frank
Avacha or Eva is Hannah and Jacob's daughter, who becomes important in continuing his legacy after his death.
Pinkas ben Zelek
Pinkas of Kozowa, is an orthodox Jew who serves as the secretary to Rabbi Rappoport of Lwow.
Gitla Pinkasowna
Gitla was the daughter of Pinkas and sometime follower of Jacob. She takes the name, Gertruda Ascerbach, after becoming the companion of our next character, Asher Rubin.
Asher Rubin
Asher Rubin is a Jewish doctor who studied in Italy and lives, at the start of the novel, in Rohatyn. He is skeptical of Jacob's movement and represents the early adoption of scientific approaches to medicine in Europe. He later moves to Lwow, where he meets Gitla.
Nahman Samuel ben Levi
Nahman is a follower of Jacob, and a student of a leading teacher of Kabbalistic traditions, the Besht. Nahman’s own chronicle of Jacob's life and teachings, ‘Scraps’, becomes a central thread of the book.
Elisha Shorr and the Shorr family
Elisha Shorr is the patriarch of a large Jewish family many of whom become involved in Jacob's movement. Many members of the Shorr family play a role in Jacob’s story, including Nathan, Isaac, Shlomo and Hayah, Elisha’s prophetess daughter.
Kajetan Soltyek
Soltyek is an ambitious bishop of the Polish Catholic Church who develops an ambivalent relationship with Jacob, Jews and the Frankist heresy. His career in the church and the fortunes of Poland, the Jews and the Frankists are intertwined.
Benedykt Chmielowski
Chmielowski is a priest, writer and Enlightenment scholar. He is a real historical figure who compiled Poland’s first encyclopedia, New Athens. He sought to spread knowledge despite resistance from parts of Polish society. Stories of his book recur throughout the novel. He writes a series of letters and develops a Platonic friendship with the next character, Elżbieta Drużbacka.
Elżbieta Drużbacka
Elżbieta Drużbacka is poet, mother, governess and manager of the estate of a powerful Polish noble family. She maintains a writing life despite all those roles, and through her correspondence with Chmielowski we discover her hidden connection to Jacob.
Katarzyna Kossakowska
Katarzyna Kossakowska is the noblewoman who Drużbacka serves. From the powerful noble Potocki family she married another noble, but did not conform to limited assumptions about the power of women. She becomes a leading politician in Poland before its Partition. Her wealth, social connections and commanding personality lead her to play a fateful role in Jacob’s story.
Antoni Kossakowski (Moliwda)
Antoni Kossakowski is Katarzyna Kossakowska’s cousin. We first meet him at the Orthodox monastery at Mount Athos where he uses an adopted name, (Moliwda). He is a Polish writer, official, wanderer, adventurer, and enigmatic character who acts, for a time, as the ambassador and advocate for Jacob's movement. But nothing lasts forever.
In of the 32 weeks of the Slow Read, I will add some notes on these and other characters, both as presented in Tokarczuk’s fiction and their known stories from history. For paid subscribers, I will also compile an index of characters for your reference during the slow read.
NOTES FOR READING POLISH ORTHOGRAPHY
One frustration readers may encounter is uncertainty about how to pronounce Polish names. Do not worry too much. It does not prevent you enjoying the novel, and I am still learning myself. But this basic guide will save you the minor embarrassments of my mispronunciations on YouTube.
C is pronounced ‘ts’
W is pronounced ‘v’
J is pronounced ‘y’
R is rolled, like in Spanish
Ch is pronounced ‘h’
Dz is similar in sound to ‘tz’
Ć and cz are both pronounced ‘ch’
Ś is pronounced ‘sh’
Ź is pronounced ‘zh’ (as in ‘measure’)
Dż is pronounced ‘g’ (as in ‘gel’)
Ł is pronounced ‘w’ (as in ‘wool’)
Ą is a nasal ‘o’ (as in ‘wrong’ or ‘on’)
Ę is a short, sharp _e_ (as in ‘in’ or ‘bin’)
Next Monday, I will share the essentials on the historical context for the novel.
And I have updated the Slow Read page with this detachable one-page Slow Read Schedule.
You can also download as a pdf here.
Paid subscribers may read my note below on the central character, Jacob Frank.