Interesting story told with a lovely voice
Gina Wilkinson brings her experience as a journalist and "dependent spouse" living in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein and the Iraq War in the beautifully written When the Apricots Bloom. It was a wonderful read.
Books set in Iraq don't often come across my radar, so I was interested in this one (drawn in by just the cover). It's the story of three women: friends Huda (recruited unwillingly to inform for the Mukhabarat) and Rania (a sheik's daughter now doing anything to keep her and her daughter safe) and Ally (the wife of an Australian diplomat). Told in their alternating points of view, we get glimpses of friendship and betrayal and the lengths women will go to protect those they love.
Wilkinson's prose shines and I felt transported to Iraq. I loved the perspectives of Huda and Rania, who gave the reader a glimpse of life of ordinary Iraqis and Ally, a wife caught in the middle of something larger than herself, as most of my memory of the Iraq War (and the earlier Gulf War of my childhood) is of oil rigs set ablaze, endless controversy over weapons of mass destruction, and the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled. This book calls to mind the history and cultural center that Iraq had once been.
A special thank you to BookishFirst and Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.
Books set in Iraq don't often come across my radar, so I was interested in this one (drawn in by just the cover). It's the story of three women: friends Huda (recruited unwillingly to inform for the Mukhabarat) and Rania (a sheik's daughter now doing anything to keep her and her daughter safe) and Ally (the wife of an Australian diplomat). Told in their alternating points of view, we get glimpses of friendship and betrayal and the lengths women will go to protect those they love.
Wilkinson's prose shines and I felt transported to Iraq. I loved the perspectives of Huda and Rania, who gave the reader a glimpse of life of ordinary Iraqis and Ally, a wife caught in the middle of something larger than herself, as most of my memory of the Iraq War (and the earlier Gulf War of my childhood) is of oil rigs set ablaze, endless controversy over weapons of mass destruction, and the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled. This book calls to mind the history and cultural center that Iraq had once been.
A special thank you to BookishFirst and Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.