Nomads in the Orchard

Ayala and her friends Twiggy, Uri and Uzi live in a small farming community in Eretz Israel during the British Mandate. Through Almog`s vivid depiction, the children’s world becomes a vast territory with infinite possibilities.

Ayala, the central figure, is a child with an exuberant imagination. She imagines that Uzi, the new boy in class, lives in a palace and has a fancy car, and that there are nomads in the “great orchard” who catch children and sell them as slaves. Left largely to their own devices, the children create games that make for exhilarating reading. Their greatest escapade is when they go on a long hike to visit Uzi. They are captured by King of the Nomads who turns out to be Uzi`s father. Swearing them to secrecy, he reveals to them who the “nomads” really are. But they mustn`t tell anybody, especially not the British authorities.