Lost in the Stacks: The Many Lives of Anne Frank

761 days of bickering and boredom, close quarters and rotten food. Days of laughter and celebrations, first love and friendship but also days of terror and uncertainty, longing and loneliness all recorded by a gifted teenager in her small, red-checked diary. 761 days that ended abruptly when the Nazis raided the secret annex herding the inhabitants out and leaving Anne’s diary carelessly on the floor. 

The Nazis murdered Anne Frank, but they couldn't destroy her voice. In The Many Lives of Anne Frank, Ruth Franklin explores the life and the afterlife of the young Jewish teenager who became an icon. Interspersing Anne’s own words from her original diary, Franklin relates Anne’s life before, during and after her time hiding. She movingly describes what Anne’s experiences most likely were at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belson. Franklin then traces the diary’s path to publication and the subsequent fights over the Jewishness of the play and movie. 

The Many Lives of Anne Frank is essential reading. Although published by Yale University Press, the text is engaging and accessible. I learned so much about Anne, especially about her meticulous diary revisions and the many literary works that influenced her writing. I’ll be rereading her diary now with even more appreciation for the remarkable teenager behind the words.