Bela

Wife of the clothier Sten and mother of the bride Lija, about forty-five winters — the quiet mistress of the great house on the market square. She remembers everything, says little, and carries the family honey-cake recipe in her head, not on paper, and it's she who gives it up for the wedding feast. Her weighed words are heard though she never raises her voice; together with Wisza she is the engine of reconciliation between two feuding houses through a shared kitchen.