The Almond in the Apricot, a debut novel by Iranian-American Goudarzi, is about two individuals whose paths cross in the most unusual of ways: a woman coming to terms with the wreckage of her once-orderly life and a tween girl struggling to live an everyday in a war-torn country.
Emma had the perfect trifecta: a long-term, albeit boring, job as an engineer in wastewater management; a steady relationship with her reliable boyfriend; and an adoring and creative best friend (about whom she wasn't quite ready to admit her unrequited feelings). However, after one crackling, long-distance phone call, her world changed forever.
Now she's having nightmares that threaten to disrupt the space-time continuum -- nightmares of hiding from missiles in basements, of glass shattering in the night from nearby explosions. But these nightmares, featuring a young girl named Lily, seem all too real, and Emma's waking life begins to be affected by the events that transpire in this mysterious wartime landscape. The Almond in the Apricot explores love, grief, and the possibility that the universe might be bigger than either Emma or Lily ever imagined.