Ellie and her friends, Homer, Lee, Corrie, Kevin, Fi, and Robyn set off on a camping trip deep in the Australian Bush. They have left behind their families, who are all off to the local show day in their small rural town of Wirrawee.

When the teens return, they find abandoned homes, dead stock and pets. To their horror, while they camped, swam, and relaxed, Australia has been invaded by another country. These armed soldiers speak in a foreign language, are quickly proven to be ruthless, and have the entire town locked up.

These seven teens want to fight back. Putting their combined skills together, finding courage they never knew they had, they slink through Wirrawee streets in the dead of night, trying to learn more about their enemy. Facing hails of bullets, they dig deep, putting their instincts against hurting others aside to escape capture.

These actions do dwell on the teens however, particularly Ellie who is writing everything down in a journal to record what happens to them.

Relationships also develop and change while they are hiding in their now well-stocked and organised camp site, in a mountain hideway.

This is a wild basin of rock and bush, the locals call Hell. Confused feelings and past bonds make things complicated among them, as they all come to terms with no military help on the way.

The first in this mega popular series, we meet the characters and learn how they interact within a dangerous and stressful situation of a military coup. Their parents have been captured along with the rest of their town, and these teens are on their own.

The true natures of these teens appear, with the class clown becoming a leader, a ballerina a budding terrorist, and the rest part of a serious (but young) team trying to fight those who have taken everything from them.

A gripping read about teenage friends having to become soldiers in order to survive.

Author – John Marsden

Age – 13+

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(2014, Pan Macmillan, War, Fighting, Action, Friendship, Relationships, Love, Romance, Australia, Series, Courage, Gunfire, Ingenuity, Camping, Family, Capture, Soldiers, Family, Revenge, Explosions)