Sonia, born in a joint family system, grows up in a nuclear family. She is bullied, ridiculed, and scorned because of her individuality as a child, and abused because of her beauty and trusting nature as a young woman. With the noose of the family honor around her neck, she succumbs to an unsuitable marriage, suffering constant abuse and marital rape, crying out for help from her guardians until the instinct of self-preservation drives her to extreme measures. This novel follows the course of Sonia's life, born in the 1940s in pre-partitioned India, through to the 1960s in Pakistan. It shows how a gifted, talented child can be influenced by the environmental and social norms, how happiness can be transformed into apathy, then misery, how self-preservation and maternal instincts eventually override all other considerations. It opens a window into a different culture and race, allowing the reader a glimpse of inherent hypocrisy-the abuse of women by men who are supposedly their guardians and protectors, men who misinterpret religion to serve their ulterior motives of domination and unbridled lust. It poses questions for psychologists, sociologists, community leaders, and reformers. Are we still in the Dark Ages?