During the High Holidays, I re-read Anne Frank-- The Diary of a Young Girl. The inspiration to read a book I read as an adolescent was Alice Hoffman, the acclaimed author of a new novel, When we Flew Away. Written for young adults or bright pre-teens (and what Jewish pre-teen isn’t bright?) Hoffman asserts, “the diary should be required reading for every child in America and throughout the world”. Now, in times of unspeakable crimes against Jews both books provide unique erudition for readers of every age, everywhere.

Based on extensive research author Alice Hoffman fills in the gaps in the lives of the Frank sisters, Margot 14 and the younger, Anne 11 two years before the family was forced into hiding. The sisters were opposites in every way. Anne was “willful and strong”, a rule-breaker and an opinionated chatterbox with a “wild imagination”. Margot was more kind, calm “the voice of reason,” optimistic about the possibilities of a wonderful future close to their mother, Edith. Before Germany occupied the Netherlands the sisters enjoyed a respite of freedom ---walking their bicycles from school, to their home at 37 Merwedeplein a Jewish neighborhood near the Amstel River, stopping, at Oase, the best place for ice cream or “prowling” in Blankenvoort Bookstore, Anne’s favorite place in the world.

Anne loved reading fairy tales, Roman and Greek myths, stories she shared with Otto her dad, nicknamed Pim. Her favorite story was about Demeter the goddess of nature and her beloved daughter Persephone. When Hades, King of the “underworld,” abducted Persephone, Demeter grieved her daughter’s absence. She neglected nature in the cold winter months when Persephone was away from her but when her daughter returned in the spring Demeter celebrated and nature flourished again. Though she always felt “special” with her father, Anne did not feel connected to her mother. She wished her own mother would love her as much as Demeter loved Persephone.

Hoffman captures the vulnerability, sweetness and innocence of a young girl who fantasized flying away to California as she watched birds freely circling over treetops. She felt “trapped in a cage for which there was no key.” Anne often climbed to the flat rooftop with her best friend Hannah Galor, sun tanning, painting her nails, planning her future after the war ended, unabashedly declaring, “I’ll be famous by then.” Known to be a flirt even at age 13, curious about love, Anne would hear her friend “Hallo” Silberberg,” openly declare his affection for her though Anne kept similar feelings to herself.

Hoffman’s novel takes us into the heart of a bewildered. impressionable girl who, like the mythological Persephone, was forced into the labyrinth of a dark “underworld”. “Hoffman’s poignant story enjoins readers “Remember me,” as the memory of the Holocaust recedes, further into the past.