Girl on a Plane - Hardcover

Moss, Miriam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0544783999 ISBN 13: 9780544783997

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2016

Synopsis

Bahrain, 1970.      After a summer spent with her family, fifteen-year-old Anna is flying back to boarding school in England when her plane is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and taken to the Jordanian desert.       Demands are issued.   If they are not met, the terrorists will blow up the plane, killing all hostages. The heat becomes unbearable; food and water supplies dwindle.   All alone, Anna begins to face the possibility that she may never see her family again.         Inspired by true events in the author’s life, this is a story about ordinary people facing agonizing horror with courage and resilience. Includes Q&A with the author.   

About this title

About the Author:

Miriam Moss was born in England but grew up in Africa, China and the Middle East and now lives in East Sussex with her family. In 1970, on her way back to boarding school in the UK, her plane was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Girl on a Plane is her story. Visit her website at http://miriammoss.com/

From School Library Journal:

Gr 7 Up—Fifteen-year-old Anna has been living in Bahrain with her family while her father has been stationed there by the British Armed Forces. She is supposed to fly back to her English boarding school by herself. It is September 1970, and the plane is hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who force the pilot to land the plane at a deserted airstrip in the Jordanian desert and turn off the power. The guerrillas demand the release of imprisoned PFLP members, and they threaten to blow up the plane and kill the passengers unless their demands are met. Anna and her fellow passengers suffer from heat and cold, hunger and thirst, and the claustrophobic confinement of the plane as they wait to see whether they will live or die. It is implied that one of the guerrillas sexually assaults a young woman on the plane, but this is never made explicit. Moss was a teenager when she was on a plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in the fall of 1970, and this book is a slightly fictionalized version of her experience. This is an intense, realistic, and absolutely gripping story; many readers have never heard of this incident and won't know the outcome. It is not a one-sided treatment; a PFLP guerrilla tells Anna about the deaths of his family members and atrocities that occurred in Palestine. VERDICT An excellent choice for a book discussion or for a class on world history, and a thrilling read.—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0544783999
• ISBN 13: 9780544783997
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288