This story starts in 1970s Jordan, where a 15-year-old girl called Anna is getting ready to fly to England. Her family has heard news of planes being hijacked, but Anna (who is travelling alone) is not frightened. Nothing could ever happen to her, could it?
However, her plane is hijacked by members of the PFLP – the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They force the plane to land in the middle of the desert where they are based, and they keep them there for three days. In the day, temperatures soar, while at night it is cold enough to make even the most resilient person shiver uncontrollably.
Then the PFLP demand that Leila Khaled (a PFLP leader) be released from prison in the UK otherwise they will blow up Anna’s plane, killing everyone in it. Their precious time is running out….
This book was based on the author’s own experience when she was fifteen. Many of the characters are imagined, but there are a few that were inspired by the events. I really hated some of the hijackers because they firmly believed killing innocent people was the right thing to do, as long as they got what they wanted. I would recommend this book to children over age 11 and for anybody who wants to know what has happened in the world.
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