Most people conceive of gender as a culturally informed response to a biological imperative. But such rigid notions are overturned by certain women in remote regions of Albania who elect to 'become' men simply for the advantages that accrue to them as a result. They crop their hair, wear men's clothes, roll their own cigarettes, drink brandy and carry guns. In short, their lives are much freer and less regimented than other members of their sex - but at a cost. These women must foreswear sexual relationships, marriage and children. They have been dubbed 'Sworn Virgins'.What is interesting is that in this region of the Balkans, simply to dress as a man and to behave as a man will earn these women the same respect accorded a man. This is no mean advantage in an area known for sexual inequality and where so many men have suffered violent, premature deaths, thereby heightening the need for more household heads. Traditionally as heads of household, men are revered and the women who attend them utterly subservient. But unlike 'normal' women, Sworn Virgins can inherit and manage property, and, in fact, may even be raised to assume the male role by parents who have no male heirs. Based on extensive interviews, this book tells the frank and engrossing stories of these women, but also sets their lives within the wider context of a country undergoing radical upheaval and social transformation.

在十九世纪初叶,古老的奥斯曼帝国,内忧外患，大小叛乱此起彼伏。京城中，奥斯曼皇宫的外墙上凿开了一方壁龛,那是叛臣和败将首级的容身之所——耻辱龛。小说叙述空间在边疆与帝都之间轮番转换，没有绝对的主人公，只有不停变换的人物的视角。作者以空间为骨架，以人物为血肉，构筑起了小说的基本脉络：所有人物及情节都围绕耻辱龛展开，将地位不同、身份各异的人物交织在一起。耻辱龛是一面镜子，折射出不同生态下不同人相异又相似的悲剧命运。同时，个体命运的悲剧性又无不将矛头指向外部原因，其讽喻性和批判性不言而喻。
作者并未选择宏大的战争场面展开描写而更偏爱对人物心理的剖析：阿普杜拉的无奈、敦吉•哈达的嫉妒、忽尔希德的恐惧、瓦西丽姬的无助……细腻的刻画让人物鲜活。这可能是作者对现实的影射，作品中的现实性和批判性是一以贯之的。