Hailing from cultures that are worlds apart, Jameela Alter intertwines the lives of four young adults, all of whom are 'barwalas' (outsiders) of sorts: Omar, from Afghanistan, is the victim of fanatical brainwashing... Farida, a staunch Muslim, grows up in London but can't wait to leave 'hateful England'... Joy lives in the United States with her reclusive father... and Goonga chooses to hide behind a world of self-imposed silence in an orphanage in India. While most of the story unfolds in India, Jameela Alter deftly moves from one country to another, from dystopian to utopian worlds, in a soulful, uniquely woven novel of love, heartbreak, and hope, of good and evil that is creatively, and sometimes humorously, tinged with the essence of the times we live in.