The author of the novel tries to bring us closer to the conditions in the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein. The population faced strict surveillance, arrests, torture and liquidations. Criticism of state policy, the Bass party and members of Saddam's family was forbidden. In addition, the punishment of any crime was legislated. Anyone who violated these prohibitions was threatened with liquidation or a long prison sentence, where prisoners were tortured and mutilated. Majada, an Iraqi journalist, also finds herself in such a prison, where she is arrested and tortured for no real reason. In the book, the writer describes the cruel experience of the journalist, as well as the other prisoners in cell 52.