The stories were chosen to offer a glimpse at themes affecting people's lives, such as rural migration, feminism, and the experience of refugees. The characters always seem to be people we have seen and perhaps even know in our daily lives, whether they are moms and daughters or husbands and sons. Never are they remote or two dimensional. The tales are loaded with knowledge. The author had a profound awareness of the rich complexity of life outside of one's four walls. These tales primarily concern women and the predicaments they face in various urban and rural settings. While Ashapurna is incredibly empathetic to the hopes and pain of a woman's existence, she never sacrifices her male characters in the process. Her feminism is neither strident nor vitriolic but her characters are treated with respect and compassion.