The Crooked Line is the story of Shamman, a force of nature who rebels against attempts to raise her as a traditional Indian woman. Shipped off to boarding school by her family, she grows into a woman caught up in political unrest, and her passion for India's independence becomes entangled with her passion for an Irish journalist. Writing with honesty and passion, Ismat Chughtai exposes the complex relationships between women living and working in relative seclusion, and the intellectual and emotional contradictions lying in the heart of a rebellious country battling tradition, cultural expectations, and an uncertain future on the brink of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.