"Isabelle Treslove-Fawcett has always felt at odds with her family - free-spirited and wild at heart, she is the opposite of her serious and studious parents, and has spent most of her life trying to find a place where she belongs. When her estranged archeologist father suddenly dies, the last thing Issy expects to be left with is a cryptic note from him and a mysterious jeweled amulet. Determined to learn how it came into her father's possession, she journey's to the deserts of Morocco, where she is swept into a world steeped in history, tradition and love lost. With the help of a handsome antiques trader named Taib, Izzy soon unearths the amulet's extraordinary past among the Tuareg people, a past that involves the legendary Tin Hinan - She of Tents - who crossed the desert on foot, and her beautiful descendant Mariata. Spanning years and the hot, shifting sands of the Salt Road, the intertwined stories of Izzy and Mariata become entangled with that of the ancient amulet, taking readers on an unforgettable journey."--Inside front cover.