Swimming Toward the Light depicts a Lebanese immigrant family in Washington, D.C., in the 1950s and gives us entree into a male-dominated, independence-stifling culture where female roles were rigidly prescribed. While the three older children liberated themselves by leaving home, the two youngest daughters, Lottie and Irene, were left to endure their parents' repressions and their Mama's despotic regime. With unflinching candor, the narrative moves toward an unexpected and devastating conclusion.