This magnum opus is one of the most important novels of the subcontinent. The narrative draws heavily on the author’s own experiences and revolves around the life of Shaman, born as the tenth and youngest child in a middle-class Muslim family where traditional mores and cultural constraints maintain an oppressive hold on the lives and behaviour of all its members. The Novel exposes the social cultural conflicts and the psychosexual determinants that govern the development of female consciousness.

…with the aplomb of a great cook, Ismat Chughtai seizes fistfuls of story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, and pattern of rhythm and tosses them into a bubbling cauldron.

—Indian Review of Books

What makes Chughtai special is that nowhere does her art seem to have a palpable design on us. She is a feminist, an iconoclast, an atheist yet how perfectly she knows not to offend.

—Outlook