Description

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"An appealing and inventive novel…original and cathartic." —Dana Kennedy, New York Times

On February 16, 1944, Anne Frank recorded in her diary that Peter, whom she at first disliked and eventually came to love, had confided to her that if he got out alive, he would reinvent himself entirely. This novel is the story of what might have happened if the boy in hiding had survived to become a man.

Peter arrives in America, the land of self-creation, and passes as a Christian. Successful in business and rich in love in the boom years of the 1950s, he thrives in the present, plans for the future, and has no past. But there is a cost to his charade. When The Diary of a Young Girl is published to worldwide acclaim, it triggers paralyzing memories of his experiences in the secret annex in Amsterdam. The diary is his story too, and once the floodgate of memory opens, his life spirals out of control.

Based on extensive research of Peter van Pels and the strange and disturbing life Anne Frank's diary took on after her death, this is a novel about the memory of death, the death of memory, and the inescapability of the past. Reading group guide included.

About the Author

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Ellen Feldman is the author of the novels Lucy and The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank. She writes for the American Heritage Web site and is a sought-after speaker. She lives in New York.

Praise For…

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An ambitious novel about war, identity and the past.
— Chicago Tribune

Engaging and morally questioning…for those who have read only the diary or seen the play or movie, the novel will prompt them to think about her and a host of larger questions in new ways.
— USA Today

Seamless weaving of fact and fiction gives The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank tension to spare, making it a story of unexpected suspense…a page-turner. By tearing down the shrine of simple hope and sacred memory that has been made of Anne Frank, Feldman has created a fiction that makes the facts of her story real again.

— The Forward

A powerful testament to the permanence of war’s imprint on the innocent, and how that experience defines a life forever.
— Newsday

An audacious novel . . . whose sensational theme never tarnishes the passion and delicacy with which Feldman tells her gripping story.
— American Heritage

A deeply affecting, unsettling look into the soul of a man…A psychologically gripping tale, this will cause readers to think about the price of safety and the complex obligations of memory.
— Publishers Weekly

This heartfelt and moving book is highly recommended.
— Library Journal