Ari Ben Canaan 

Barak and Sarah Ben Canaan’s son and the protagonist. Ari is strong and wise like his father, and he too grows up surrounded by violence. Ari joins the Palmach and the missions of the Mossad when he becomes an adult. He orchestrates the escape of three hundred children from Cyprus to Palestine on the Exodus. He later becomes a strategic expert while the war for Israeli independence rages.  

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Kitty Fremont 

An American nurse. Kitty lost her husband in World War II and her young daughter shortly after. She leaves her old life to help orphans in Cyprus during the war. She becomes attached to Karen, a young girl who lives at a displaced persons camp in Cyprus, and follows her to Palestine. Kitty always feels like an outsider in Palestine, but at the same time is drawn to stay there. She gives her life to the Israeli people and their fight for independence. 

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Dov Landau 

A young Jewish man from Poland. Dov loses his entire family as World War II begins. He is at Auschwitz for a time, where his superior forgery skills save his life. He is depressed and full of hate as a young man. Dov goes to Palestine on the Exodus and joins the Maccabees, which appeases his need for revenge. As an adult, he becomes open and warm due to the example and love of Karen. Dov is a brilliant student and applies his academic excellence to improve life in Israel.   

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Karen Hansen Clement 

A young Jewish girl from Germany. Karen is sent away from her family in the middle of World War II. She is adopted by a couple whom she grows to love, but when the war ends, Karen leaves them to find her family. She ends up at a displaced persons camp in Cyprus and is among the children who go to Palestine on the Exodus. Karen becomes deeply connected to Palestine during the time she spends there.

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Barak Ben Canaan  

A hero of Israel’s independence. Barak grows up in the Jewish Pale of Russia and flees to Palestine with his bother as a young man. He is instrumental in establishing and defending Jewish settlements in Palestine. He later becomes involved in politics and the vote for partition that creates the Jewish nation.  

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Akiva 

Founder of the Maccabees and brother of Barak Ben Canaan. When Akiva is eighteen years old, he kills the man who instigated a pogrom that results in his father’s death. Akiva and his brother Barak flee to Palestine. When violence erupts there, Akiva is not satisfied with restraint, so he creates a rogue group, the Maccabees. The group achieves some strategic victories but often puts the independence of the Jewish people in jeopardy.  

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Jordana Ben Canaan 

Daughter of Barak and Sarah Ben Canaan. Jordana is a sabra, a native-born Palestinian, and everything she does revolves around her love for her homeland. As an adult, she is in charge of giving military training to the children of Gan Dafna. She in love with David Ben Ami, but she never shows her feelings, because she believes that this is not in keeping with being a sabra woman.  

David Ben Ami 

A Jewish man from Jerusalem. David is young, but he becomes a trusted member of the Palmach, the striking arm of the secret Jewish army. David is part of the Exodus mission. David is killed when he goes on a suicide mission to liberate the city during the Jewish War for Liberation.   

Zev Gilboa 

A member of the Palmach. At the camp in Cyprus, Zev is put in charge of teaching young Jewish refugees how to defend themselves. He is one of Ari’s closest friends and accompanies him on the Exodus mission. Zev dies when he tries to take Fort Esther during the War for Liberation.  

Joab Yarkoni 

A young Jewish man from Casablanca. Joab is only in his twenties but is a member of the Palmach and has been involved in many Mossad missions, including Exodus. He is instrumental in keeping Safed safe during the War of Liberation. The city becomes a symbol of defiance early in the war.   

Bruce Sutherland 

British Commander in Cyprus. Sutherland’s mother was Jewish, and he carries guilt for not granting her dying wish and burying her with her Jewish family. Thwarted by the British military for his Jewish sympathies, he is drawn to his mother’s homeland after retirement and advises the Jewish people during their bid for independence.  

Sarah Ben Canaan 

The wife of Barak Ben Canaan. A young Sarah proposes to a shy Barak after they meet at Rosh Pinna settlement. Sarah lives a solitary life, as her husband and children are constantly pulled away by their work.  

Kammal 

A wealthy landowner. Kammal is one of the first people Barak and Akiva meet when they arrive in Palestine. When Kammal sees the success of the Jewish settlements, he asks Barak to start a new village where he will teach Kammal’s people how to farm and how to educate their children. The men become friends even though they are on two different sides of the fight for Palestine.  

Taha 

Kammal’s son. Taha and Ari become good friends when Taha lives with the Ben Canaan’s after Kammal’s murder. While the two are close, Taha always feels like a brother in name only and cannot promise Ari that he will cooperate when Ari asks for his help to protect the Jewish settlements.  

Harriet Saltzman 

Director of the Youth Aliyah in Palestine. Harriet is in her eighties and has spent her life organizing money from Zionists around the world to build a state-of-the-art medical facility in Jerusalem. When she meets Kitty, she is kind about giving her a position, but she lets Kitty know she would not approve of her pursuing Ari.  

Dafna 

A Jewish Palestinian girl. Dafna and Ari fall in love as teenagers. Their work often keeps them apart, but they plan to marry. When violence breaks out between Jewish and Arab forces, the young couple begin living in a dangerous location. Dafna is kidnapped and killed. The children’s village of Gan Dafna is built in her honor. 

Dr. Lieberman 

A Jewish refugee from Germany. Dr. Lieberman leaves Germany during World War II and founds the children’s village that is named in honor of Dafna.  

Aage and Meta Hansen 

A couple from Denmark. The Hansens adopt Karen during World War II and love her like a daughter. When the war is over, they know they have to let Karen go so that she can try to find any surviving members of her family.  

Simon Rabinski 

Barak and Akiva’s father. After Simon is killed in a pogrom, Akiva kills the man who organized the attack. This causes the young brothers to flee Russia on foot and go to Palestine.  

Mundek Landau 

Dov’s brother. Mundek becomes a braver leader of he Redeemers, a group that resists the German attempt to take over the Landau’s Polish ghetto. Mundek is killed in the resistance. Even when Dov is full of hate, he respects Ari because he reminds Dov of Mundek. 

Mark Parker 

An American war correspondent. Mark is approached by Ari to help him publicize the escape of the Exodus. Mark files several story reporting on the progress of the mission.  

Mandria 

A wealthy Cypriot. Ari asks for Mandria’s help with the Exodus mission because he owns shipping and taxi companies. Initially hesitant, Mandria proves to be a good friend of the Jewish people.