Isabelle's estranged archeologist father dies, leaving her a puzzle. In a box she finds some papers and a mysterious African amulet-but their connection to her remains unclear until she embarks on a trip to Morocco to discover how the amilet come into her father's possession. When the amulet is damaged and Isabelle almosted killed in an accident, she fears her curiosity has gotten the better of her. But Taib, her rescuer, knows the dunes and their peoples, and offers to help uncover the amulet's extraordinary history, involving Tin Hinan-She of the Tents-who made a legendary crossing of the desert, and her beautiful descendant Mariata. Across years and over hot, shifting sands, tracking the Salt Road, the stories of Isabelle and Taib, Mariata and her lover become entangled with that of the lost amulet. It is a tale of souls wounded by history and of love blossoming on barren ground. --[Book Jacket].