Suzie, working in a London advertising agency, is told at a month's notice to work in Marrakesh for at least a month. She's not getting on well with her boyfriend anyway. Her friend/colleague Isabel is going too. 20-something Tony from the ad agency shows them around. On p.22, halfway down there's "Eric, their new line manager". At the bottom of p.23 there's "Eric, her new line manager". Isabel's working at HQ while Suzie's taking over a shop. The employees don't like working for a foreign female and leave. She gets help from the "Carpet Man", someone who sells carpets under her winow. He teaches her Moroccan business skills and provides a business plan. Isabel moves out. Suzie's mother and sister arrive unannounced (p.60). They call her about her boyfriend. A page or so later they seem to have gone!? I thought it was a fragment of an old draft left in by accident but on p.87 her sister says "Don't expect us to visit you there again". Suzie applies to be on a TV business series. Isabel tries to keep it secret that she's applying too.
The Carpet Man, Mr Abdullah, is a Berber. He gives her cultural lessons. He spends much of his time in the desert. One day he takes her into the Agafay desert by camel.
After 4 months she's called back to the UK for a meeting. Christine tells her that she thinks Suzie's boyfriend (who Suzie seems to have barely contacted, who moved out of their flat without telling her) is having an affair. She invites her boyfriend to Marrakesh - after 4 months away! While she's briefly in England, her deputy shuts the shop down. Andy, a photographer, saves the day. She returns to Marrakesh. Isabel and Suzie are both accepted for the TV series. Her first ad-campaign (thanks to the Carpet Man) is a big success. The shop is converted into a mini HQ.
The TV show includes a round at Isabel's worklace. Suzie is (unfairly) eliminated after a round in Agafay desert. Isabel is eliminated soon after. There are rumours that Suzie and the Carpet Man are a couple. "He had a hypnotic wisdom when he spoke which engendered a kind of reverent trust in those that listened". Eric calls her suddenly to HQ, accusing her of stealing ideas from Isabel, or leaking ideas to a rival. She's suspended from work. Other people are questioned. She and Tony do some investigating, checking alibis. Eric has a girlfriend at a rival agency. They meet her. Eric finds out and grills them. They keep their jobs. They tell Eric's boss. Christine visits for a weekend. Carpet man returns, having disappeared for months. Eric mails staff to say that the culprit had been found and that they need a new deputy CEO. Carpet man is on the interview panel. Christine phones to tell her that Suzie's boyfriend had been going out with Isabel, who had been popping back to the UK Eric's boss has a talk with her. She's honest. She learns that Eric wasn't the source of the leak, but he'd made misjudgements and wouldn't become deputy CEO. Suzie would. She'd been given a difficult task and the shop was now a success. Isabel has been embezzling, and had been rude to people. Eric's boss had made Suzie's meeting with the carpet man look accidental. The company used Morocco as a training ground.
At the start, Suzie is so often not told about things (personal and company) that she should have been told about that it's Kafkaesque. I didn't get much of a culture-shock feel, or a feel for Marrakesk (I've been there, and into the desert by camel). Some of the events (I've mentioned them above) seem to have no effect - strange.
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