a, Shirley) brings thenineteenth-century Silk Road to lavish life, chronicling the story ofAmir Halgal, a young woman from a nomadic tribe betrothed to atwelve-year-old boy eight years her junior. Coping with culturaldifferences, blossoming feelings for her new husband, and expectationsfrom both her adoptive and birth families, Amir strives to find her roleas she settles into a new life and a new home in a society quick todefine that role for her.