A concerned social visionary Anita Desai was a keen observer of the society and the position of the women in the contemporary society draws her special attention. The novels of Anita Desai are noted for the profound probing into the inner life and feelings of the women, bounded by the shackles of the middle class. The novels are the explorations of the family problems, which perhaps is the chief cause behind the estrangement of the women from their family. However in the later novels the key theme, which Desai is concerned is the Western stereotyped views about India. The blasé life of the middle class family is the chief theme of most of her novels. Often the author`s characters in the novels are the Anglicized Indians, who jaded of their everyday life and lack of warmth in the marital relationships ultimately covet to escape from the folds of family institution. The life of the unprivileged class was no less important to her and with poise she has depicted a lively picture of the deprived and dispossessed class.

Cry, the peacock : - The psychosomatic growth of a female character, who cannot cope up with the practical world of the husband and feels dejected, forlorn and demoralized which ultimately gains catastrophe, when the wife kills her husband out of this frustration.

Bye Bye Blackbird : - Bye Bye Blackbird is the psychiatry of the immigrants who suffered mixed feelings of love and hate towards the country of their adoption.

In Custody: - The illustrious novel, In Custody is crafted with the upheavals and intricacies of relationship. A novel is a tale of shattered emotion and the scattered dream of the individual in custody.

Fire on the Mountain : - Set against the pristine backdrop of pristine Simla hills, the novel, Fire on the Mountain portray the picture of the Indian life and stages of old ages. The intricacies of relationship, the palpation of kinship are prominent in the novel.

Where Shall We Go to This Summer: - The redolent saga of escapism, the tuneful melody of the long lost song of childhood is the central theme of the novel of Where Shall we Go to this summer.

Voices in the city: - Voices in the City is the intense description of the middle class intellectuals in the backdrop of contemporary Calcutta.

A Village by the Sea : - A village by the sea is the depiction of the agonized subsistence of a family in the village close to the sea.