This book tells the story of two very different women, both trapped in a fabric of a social environment that is hostile to them. Harriet Simenon is the rich wife of a powerful expat business man. Nagris is her Tajik nanny and maid who struggles with poverty and her subordinate role both at work and as a woman in society in general.

Hurramabad describes the bloody national strife and the eviction of Russians from Tadjikistan following the collapse of the Soviet Union. When civil war erupts in the country, many Russians are reluctant to leave their home. But normal life gradually vanishes, replaced by atrocity and death.