Selin is the book’s narrator. She is a budding writer who grew up in an immigrant Turkish family. Her parents are secular intellectuals and value education above all else. Selin’s mother is a medical researcher at a New Jersey tier 2 research university and is described as very fashionable. She is divorced from Selin’s father and is dating an American man, called Steve. Selin’s father lives in Florida with his second wife and Selin’s much younger half-brother.

Growing up in a single-parent household has made Selin very conscious of her family’s tight financial situation. Her mother agrees to pay for prestigious high school summer programs, as well as for her education at Harvard College, but there is no extra money. Feeling guilty to ask for financial help, Selin lives frugally, especially in terms of clothing and food. She shops at second-hand stores and rarely eats out. However, despite her own financial difficulties, Selin is also conscious of her relatively privileged upbringing and tries to give back to the community by volunteering to teach ESL. She believes that “when confronted by two courses of action, one should always choose the less conservative and more generous” (192). This philosophy, combined with her desire to spend more time with Ivan, prompts her to volunteer to teach English in a Hungarian village during the summer.