Annelies

Anneliesby David R. Gillham     416 pages

In David R. Gillham’s new novel, after “City of Women,” he asks the question: What if Anne Frank had survived the Holocaust?

A single answer would not be possible, since had this been true, there are a million possibilities. Every time I think about that question, my mind hums with scenarios.

In this work, Gillham spends a little over the first half of the book reimagining the Frank’s family life in Amsterdam. He gives us a fictional account of the family’s interaction and takes a long look at their life they had while they were in hiding in secret rooms of her father’s business. The fear they felt was palpable. When the family is betrayed, my heart broke again for those who endured the Nazi brutality. Readers get to tag along as the family of four, and their friends, endure the cattle cars that took them to their living hells.

The second third of the story takes place after Anne is reunited with her father, Otto (the only true survivor of the atrocities). Anne is seventeen and very angry. This section of the book takes place mostly in 1946 as Anne, Otto, Otto’s new bride, and the friends who hid them try to adjust to life after the war.

Anne is very sensitive to and conscious of the number tattooed on her forearm. She covers it with powder and long sleeves. It’s hard to watch Anne as she feels the guilt for having survived when her mother and sister did not.

Through it all, Anne writes.  She writes before the Nazis arrest and deport her family to the concentration camps. She writes when she returns to the liberated Amsterdam. The betrayal that she feels when she learns that the thin sheets of paper she had been writing before the arrest and been found and saved by one of those who tried to protect her family.

Then the story jumps to 1961. Readers get a small glimpse into her life, but mostly that section is Anne answering fan letters from young girls.

I was extremely disappointed in this novel. I expected Gillham to imagine the adult Anne and what she may have done with her life. Instead, most readers’ basic knowledge of Anne’s history is rehashed. The writing and plot are well done, but since Gillham didn’t deliver on his promise, “Annelies” receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.