The Apricot Garden

Izza loves everything about apricots, the kernel at the very centre, the taste of the fruits and the shape of the tress that bear them. She would love to have an apricot garden but there are two problems, firstly there is no spring in the corner of the Moroccan mountains where her family have made their home and secondly she must be dutiful to her parents who are trying to stick to the old Berber traditions of seeking pasture for the sheep and goats. She is torn between this sense of duty with a love of the mountain, and a growing desire to realise her own potential because she senses that she is somehow different from her mother, father and brother. She encounters a group of American tourists and is fascinated by their gadgets, equipment and of course, chocolate! She successfully sells them lots of trinkets and Inspired by this experience she embarks on a plan to leave the mountain in search of a fortune in the West. The plan is stalled by the sickness and death of her father but on the day of his burial she discovers a form of treasure that sets a life changing sequence of events into motion. A family friend called Sa'ad understands her intellect and ambition and sees enough of her potential to mesh his own ambitions with hers. It becomes a race against time to secure the treasure and stop others exploiting it first. If the race is lost she must leave the mountain and settle in the valley, destined to be bullied for her unorthodox past. If the race is won she will not only be able to have her apricot garden but build a place where tourists will discover that thier lifestyle is perhaps not all it is cracked up to be.