REVIEW:

I won a paperback copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway, so if you take anything from this review let it be that miracles do happen!

When the Apricots Bloom is primarily set just after the turn of the century in Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s rule. It follows three women - two Iraqis and one Australian - as their lives intertwine through friendship and betrayal. The blurb describes it as a “suspenseful debut novel,” but…

I just couldn’t get into it. The story takes so long to get going that at a certain point I couldn’t rally enough to care about the outcome. It’s one of those situations where after turning the last page I went back and read the synopsis and thought, “I want to read that book!” Then sighed realizing I just had.

Right book, wrong reader? Right story, wrong time? If the subject matter is intriguing to you, there’s a solid chance you’ll enjoy it more than I did. Author Gina Wilkinson based the novel on her real-life experiences as a journalist living in Hussein’s Iraq and has previously written a 2007 memoir about the same period in her life. Perhaps that’s the Wilkinson story this reader should have read instead.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

In this moving, suspenseful debut novel, three courageous women confront the complexities of trust, friendship, motherhood, and betrayal under the rule of a ruthless dictator and his brutal secret police. Former foreign correspondent Gina Wilkinson draws on her own experiences to take readers inside a haunting story of Iraq at the turn of the millennium and the impossible choices faced by families under a deadly regime.

At night, in Huda’s fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the mukhabarat — the secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. They have ordered her to befriend Ally Wilson, the deputy ambassador’s wife. Huda has no wish to be an informant, but fears for her teenaged son, who may be forced to join a deadly militia. Nor does she know that Ally has dangerous secrets of her own.

Huda’s former friend, Rania, enjoyed a privileged upbringing as the daughter of a sheikh. Now her family’s wealth is gone, and Rania too is battling to keep her child safe and a roof over their heads. As the women’s lives intersect, their hidden pasts spill into the present. Facing possible betrayal at every turn, all three must trust in a fragile, newfound loyalty, even as they discover how much they are willing to sacrifice to protect their families.