In 1978, when in her early 20s, Iraqi journalist al-Qazwini was sent as a delegate to the Women's International Democratic Federation in East Berlin; as Saddam came to power, she was exiled and has remained in Germany ever since. Zubaida, the protagonist of her dirge-like novel, has similarly spent decades watching Baghdad from exile in Berlin, unable to return to Iraq and unable to grow accustomed to living in a city where she is alienated and alone.