Broken Reed highlights the cultural crises of post-colonial nationalism and feminist consciousness. This tale of confinement, love and the urge for freedom takes place during a sensitive and traumatic period in the history of the Indian subcontinent - the partition of 1947 and the creation of India and Pakistan as separate states. A Muslim protagonist, Nureen, is caught up in the emotional turmoil resulting from Independence amid the religious groupings of India's diverse communities. Broken Reed is at once a vivid and unemotional account of the cultural damage caused by the colonial rule in India and Pakistan. Rich in familial conflicts, the story dramatizes difficulties faced by those women of the subcontinent who were forced to cope with the hardships of modernity while fighting the repressiveness of tradition and culture.