Anna and the Hunters

Anna, a 13-year-old girl, lives – or rather hides – in a basement in Tel Aviv. She lives in fear of being thrown out of the country even though she was born in Israel and Hebrew is her mother tongue. But because her parents came from far away, she is considered a “migrant worker,” a foreigner. Her father has already been deported: arrested on the street, imprisoned and then put on a plane leaving the country. So Anna does not go out and tries to make as little noise as possible.

Her mother leaves for work early each morning, under cover of darkness, despite her fear of the “hunters”- the deportation police. And Anna stays alone, with just a radio and a little night light that cannot be seen from the street. So as not to feel too lonely, she climbs up on the bed and peeks out through a little skylight. She sees the legs of passersby and tries to imagine what the people look like. Anna thinks about her situation and in her innocent way raises difficult moral questions about Israel`s policy towards foreign workers. As the author puts it, this book is intended for “every reader who seeks to live in a better, more just society.”