Freefall

What would your life be like if military service was compulsory, not voluntary?

Aggie is eighteen and getting ready to do her service for the Israeli Army. She could get a cushy assignment—maybe pushing paper somewhere—or she could just take her chances. Only, Aggie isn't like that. Despite her small size and the fact that she needs to gain weight to even make the grade, and despite the total disbelief of her entire family (except her grandmother, who is an old freedom fighter and don't you forget it), Aggie is trying out for an elite combat unit.

Ben—Aggie's crush of the moment—isn't at all convinced that she's making the right choice. Shira, Aggie's best friend forever, is bewildered (and perhaps a bit too interested in Ben). Then there's Noah. And the serendipitous snow. And a good-bye kiss that turns into, well, a real kiss.

Luckily for Aggie, her backbreaking, sand-in-mouth, completely-lost-in-the-desert training produces an unlikely dividend: friends. The kind she never imagined she could have. The kind you'd go to war with—and for.

KLIATT

Anna Levine lives in Israel, and this story is about Aggie, an Israeli teenager about to enter the army. She and her friends are leaving high school, just like students all over the world; however, instead of going off to college or starting a career, they are drafted into military service. Most of the girls don't go into combat units, but Aggie, fighting her own lack of confidence, volunteers to go on a two-day test in the desert to see if she will be chosen for that very daunting challenge. She makes friends with a few other women who have totally different backgrounds, and bonds with them. Back home in Jerusalem, Aggie starts falling in love with the older brother of her best friend—Noah is already in the armed service and home on a weekend leave. Everything changes when northern Israel is bombed: there is a national alert and the military is called to service in southern Lebanon (the summer of 2006). It's strange to read about a war with folks communicating by cell phone, with a whole nation involved. Oddly enough, even though this is about Israel, there is very little about the enemy or about the politics of the struggle. It is a story about one girl and her coming of age, finding the courage to do what she wants to do. Reviewer: Claire Rosser

Anna Levine has lived in Israel for more than twenty years, having emigrated there on her own when she was eighteen. She is the mother of two sons—both of whom are serving in the Israeli Army. Aggie's experiences in the novel are partly based on the author's time spent in underground bomb shelters after rockets hit her kibbutz.