My son introduced me to this book one afternoon as I picked him up from school. “Mum, you have to read this book, you’ll love it.” So I did, and it deserves it’s place on my bookshelf.

Oranges in No Man’s Land follows the lives of Ayesha and her younger brothers in war torn Beirut. With their father out of the country looking for work, and their mother killed in a rocket attack, they live with their grandmother, in a block filled with other refugees.

When grandmother’s medicine runs out, Ayesha needs to reach Doctor Laila who can help, but she lives on the other side of the green line, which means she’ll have to cross it twice to succeed.

Ayesha’s strength of spirit and hope in the face of such adversity had me willing her on all the way through this book. It’s a short read, but packed with emotion; there were tears, tissues were needed.

Great for learning about life during conflicts, and how important it is to have hope, resilience and determination.