The centrality of female relationships is the primary theme of this book. Friendships among women in El Nahra are “much more important and more intense in this segregated society than in our own” (255). Elizabeth is particularly struck by the fact that the women do not consider their husbands companions and do not emotionally discuss men. Instead, “long hours were spent in debates about the fidelity or indifference of women friends” (255). Elizabeth’s primary friendship is with Laila, and their friendship is recognized by all of the women of the tribe. When Elizabeth and Bob are visited by two male American friends, Laila immediately visits Elizabeth to keep her company, assuming that she will be bored and alone in seclusion.

In many cases, women, especially mothers, are revered as protectors. On numerous occasions, the women of the tribe lament the fact that Elizabeth is so far away from her mother. Elizabeth witnesses distraught and inconsolable mothers whose daughters are married and taken out of their households, severing a mother-daughter protective bond. Elizabeth eventually regrets being far away from her own mother when she visits a bereaved friend who has lost her own mother and undergoes an exhausting but cathartic process of mourning.