"My fate as a woman followed me around like a solemn shadow, offering nothing but cooking, cleaning and other dreary tasks, but I was not yet ready to submit." Akani is the tale of a young girl's reluctant journey into adulthood, set against the excitement and turmoil of an adventure story. Set around 100BC, in and around the mountains of North Africa, in what is now Morocco, Akani's story unfolds, revealing a world that is both reassuringly recognisable and exotically different. The challenges she has to overcome force her to re-examine the relationships she has with her emerging femininity, her family and her community.