In the two bold and gripping novellas brought together in this volume, the inimitable Ismat Chughtai writes of subversive women as they experience romantic and sexual desire, defy societal restrictions, struggle, scheme and sometimes court tragedy. Obsession deals with one of Chughtai’s favourite themes, the ‘master-servant’ romance—in this case, two brothers, sons of a feudal household, in love with the same orphan girl. And Wild Pigeons—based on the experiences of a famous Bollywood personality—probes the theme of infidelity. In Chandni and Abida, the main protagonists of the novellas, Chughtai gives us two of the strongest women in Indian fiction.