Sara, a philosophy professor at Kuwait University, has long had an uneasy relationship with her homeland. But after her mother's death, inertia keeps her there until she is accused of blasphemy and faces the threat of execution. As she awaits trial, Sara is forced to reckon with her place in the world and the women who shaped her.

Her grandmothers' lives span privilege and poverty: Yasmine, who married the son of a Pasha and soon regretted it, and Lulwa, swept from hardship into the wealth of an Indian merchant's household. Then there are her two mothers: Noura, restless for America, and Maria, the devoted ayah who leaves her own children behind in Pune to raise Sara and her brother.

captures the tragedies and triumphs of three generations of Arab women in one unforgettable tale.