The conflict in Bangladesh is the backdrop to the conflict in the main character Rehana, whose emotions are rarely in harmony. When her in-laws, who had procured her children by court order, arrive from West Pakistan, she remembers how, when she first won the children back, she wanted to find bruises or some evidence they'd been mistreated. When the sister-in-law visits Rehana's home, she enjoys the deceit that next door rebels are planting guns in the garden. At the market her butcher addresses her in both their native languages, Urdu, now the language of Rehana's enemy, she reminds him there's a war on:
...Rehana could see that he was afraid of her, and she was pleased, and then ashamed to be pleased. She quickly pulled out a five-rupee note and turned, waving away the flies that had suddenly collected around her head.There's tension, but it's claustrophobic inside Rehana's head and I find her conflicting emotions oddly predictable.