When the Apricots Bloom

All three women come together in the culmination of their plan to escape Iraq. The revelation that Ally is American is a powerful piece of information for Rania and Huda, and their first thought is to strategize ways to use that information to save their children. However, they also come up with a plan that can save Ally as well, first with the plan to tell the embassy that Ally’s identity has been revealed, but then to include Ally in the plan to evacuate the children from Iraq. First, Huda tries to trick Ally into taking a trip to Jordan, but, when that fails, she and Rania decide to tell Ally the full truth, including that Huda is an informant for the mukhabarat. Of course, Ally is upset by this information, but she also understands that Huda is revealing her situation out of consideration for her, and this realization helps heal the women’s bond somewhat despite the mutual suspicions that seek to divide them. Even so, the crucial element of these chapters is the uncertainty over the authenticity of their friendship, and they end the chapter unsure of where they stand with each other. While Rania and Huda have overcome their past to some extent, they still have tension regarding their disparate social positions, with Rania maintaining a certain high-class lifestyle while Huda is still entrenched with the mukhabarat. Although Ally and Rania do not seem to have a direct conflict with each other, Huda’s involvement as an informant renders Ally unsure about any relationships that she has forged in Iraq.

The completion of Bridget’s storyline from the 1970s mirrors the primary elements of Ally’s current situation, for that Bridget, too, had a close friend who was an informant for the government. While Yusra, Miriam, and Bridget were all members of the communist party, only Yusra was executed. The relationships of the three women in the 1970s are thus similar to that of Huda, Rania, and Ally, in that Huda and Yusra are both regular Iraqi women, Miriam and Rania are both high-class artists, and Bridget and Ally are both inquisitive Americans. The concern, then, is that Huda, Rania, and Ally’s situation will develop in the same way as Yusra, Miriam, and Bridget’s, with Ally leaving the country, Rania using her connections to protect herself, and Huda suffering the consequences of the government’s need to suppress dissent. However, Yusra was not an informant, and it is entirely possible that Bridget did not fully understand her role in Yusra’s death. The fact that Huda and Rania have brought Ally into their plans, and that Huda has maintained good standing with Abu Issa, sets up the modern group of women to rewrite the tragic events of the past. In many ways, the women’s struggle for freedom mirrors Iraq’s larger struggle for liberty, as men like Kareem and the cleric attempt to alter the power struggles of the 1970s that led to Saddam Hussein’s rise to power.

Huda’s memory of the drowning woman can be interpreted as an abstract symbol that applies to each of the women’s situations. For example, Ally has the opportunity to leave the country alone, abandoning Huda and Rania to the mercy of Abu Issa and Uday Hussein. Similarly, Huda has the opportunity to turn in both Ally and Rania, securing her position with the mukhabarat at the other two women’s expense. Finally, Rania has the connections to work with Kareem and the opposition to potentially save herself and her daughter. However, although Mustafa must ultimately abandon the drowning woman to her fate in the river, all three women are intent on saving each other, thus rewriting another aspect of the past by keeping each other from drowning. Still, the end note of Chapter 25 is the issue of trust, as none of the three women can truly know the plans and intentions of the others. Up until this point, Huda has always acted as though she had Ally’s best interests in mind, but it has now been revealed that Huda was acting against Ally to protect Khalid and herself. Now, there is no way for all three women to trust that the current communications are not still part of a new act to protect themselves at the expense of the others. As the narratives continue to develop and interweave, trust becomes a key component in empowering these women to work together and overcome their present situation, and each of them is realizing how they can escape Iraq and find safety together.