These are major characters from the various novels and stories that make up Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe.
Ana Khouri, an ex-soldier from Sky's Edge, was accidentally placed aboard an interstellar lighthugger and brought to Chasm City. At Chasm City, she participated in Shadowplay, a game in which she attempted to kill the clients so they could brag about the experience should they survive. After one Shadowplay event she was recruited by the Mademoiselle to infiltrate the crew of the lighthugger Nostalgia for Infinity. She was also recruited by the triumvirate of the Nostalgia for Infinity as the Gunnery officer (Triumvir Ilia Volyova's experiments having killed the previous officer), under the impression that she was heading back home to Sky's Edge. She has a small cameo at the end of Chasm City, although unnamed at the time and not revealed until Redemption Ark. She also has an important part in Redemption Ark organising the evacuation from Resurgam and again in Absolution Gap.
gather twilight/ sun warm ears go cold
ape-like in prayer/ still and gone sister no
distance and time/ maybe make love stay
mother hold time / milk drunk easy mind
butcher and peel/ the feeling slips clear away
ape-like held ground/still around sister no
Gambling and god/ might make love stay
a common enemy/ maybe make love stay
drunk wife ride out/ this sunday meal
ape-life undone/ quiet wife still and gone
bullets and guns / maybe make love stay