The semi-autobiographical novel focuses on the story of a Shona family in post-colonial Rhodesia during the 1960s. "Nervous Conditions" is the first book of a trilogy, with "The Book of Not" (2006) as the second novel in the series, and "This Mournable Body" (2020) as the third. "Nervous Conditions" illustrates the dynamic themes of race, colonialism, and gender during the post-colonial conditions of present-day Zimbabwe. The title is taken from the introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre to Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth" (1961).