The Broken Wings is the exquisitely tender story of love that beats desperately against the taboos of Oriental tradition. With great sensitivity, Kahlil Gibran describes his passion as a youth for Selma Karamy, the girl of Beirut who first unfolded to him the secrets of love. But it is a love that is doomed by a social convention which forces Selma into marriage with another man.

Portraying the happiness and infinite sorrow of his relationship with Selma, Gibran at the same time probes the spiritual meaning of human existence with profound compassion. The novel highlights many of the social issues of the time in the Eastern Mediterranean, including religious corruption, the rights of women, and the weighing up of wealth and happiness.