While this experience inspired the starting point for When the Apricots Bloom, and many small details came straight from reality, the plot is a work of fiction. I am not Ally. Huda does not exist. Neither does Rania. However, I did my best to paint an accurate portrait of life under Saddam Hussein at that moment in time. I’m indebted to Ban al-Dhayi, Samir al-Badri, and Ghada Kachachi for their encouragement, feedback, and advice in this endeavor. That said, any mistakes or alternations in fact are mine alone. I’d also like to thank my agent, Heather Jackson; my editor, John Scognamiglio at Kensington; as well as Natasha, Zaha, Jennifer, Sahar, Fatemeh, Wendra, Chelsea, Chris at Petworth Neighborhood Library, and the other members of my two writing groups. My wonderful husband, Geoff, went above and beyond. I truly could not have done this without him.

I also want to acknowledge the important discussion around our own voices. The publishing industry has marginalized authors outside of the white, Western mainstream for far too long. This needs to change. In this polarized era, we need more diverse books, written by diverse authors, in settings and situations that reflect the deep richness of our world. At the same time, like PEN America, I don’t believe in setting “rigid rules” about who has the right to tell which stories, or that an author should be confined to creating only characters with a similar background or genetic code. I’ve spent more than twenty years living outside of my home country, in Iraq, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and the United States and Canada. I’ve lived in tiny rural communities and heaving metropolises. Throughout, I’ve found that while we might pray in a certain way, cover our hair or not, bake our bread flat or leavened, at heart we want the same things—safety, peace, love. We share far more in common than that which divides us. I hope this book shows that.

A READING GROUP GUIDE

WHEN THE APRICOTS BLOOM

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The suggested questions are included to enhance your group’s reading of Gina Wilkinson’s When the Apricots Bloom.

Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions

1. When the Apricots Bloom takes place in Baghdad, during the rule of the dictator Saddam Hussein, at a time when Western sanctions kept Iraq virtually cut off from the rest of the world. What did you learn about life for ordinary Iraqis, like Huda, that surprised you?

2. If you were in Huda’s situation, how would you have responded to the orders from the secret police? Should Huda have felt guilty about any of her actions? What about the money she pockets when Ally buys a lemon tree, or her threats later to the nurseryman?