My Fatima

"My Fatima" is a 195-page historical novel for young adults and older readers. It describes the friendship between two teenage girls, one from Germany, and the other from the Middle East. Both girls attend a girls school in Beirut, Lebanon in the 1960s. The German girl, Trudy, is the daughter of the ambassador to Jordan, while the schoolmate she admires and befriends is a Palestinian named Fatima. It turns out that Fatima's boyfriend, Ali, is a PLO militant. Just before graduating from middle school, Trudy is kidnapped by Ali's team. The friendship between Trudy and Fatima is put to the test by this unfortunate incident. This poignant story develops into a tragedy that bears out the important point that the world needs peace, not wars.