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I never realised that there could be such suffering in the world, and that anyone could live through it' 1 July 1945
In 1940, while the Germans occupied Holland, fourteen-year-old Edith van Hessen was filling her diary with carefree stories of school, parties and boys. But her entries record a darkening world. By 1942, as the Nazis escalated their war against the Jewish population, Edith began a bitter struggle to survive.
Hidden in plain sight by another Dutch family, with a Nazi officer billeted in the next room, Edith faces the horrors of war under constant threat of discovery and betrayal. As terrible news filters through from home, she can only shout her real name to the wind and wait for liberation.
Weaving together Edith's diaries with letters smuggled between family members and her own memories, this extraordinary memoir of 'the Anne Frank who lived' is a profoundly moving account of grief, loss, courage - and one girl's remarkable belief in humanity in the face of despair.
'Leaves you heart-broken, illuminated, and amazed at the capacity for courage' Esther Freud
'Moving and wise . . . The most vivid evocation of the experience of Nazi Occupation I have ever read' Independent
'Truly moving . . . leaving one with great hope in humanity' The Times
INTRODUCED BY ESTHER FREUD