The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel

Ellen Feldman has created an alternate universe in her novel The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank.  In this universe, Peter Van Pels (Peter Van Daam in Anne's famous diary) survives the Holocaust.  Keeping his identity and Judaism a secret, he emigrates to the United States.  The story begins in the 1960s.  Peter is married, has children and is co-owner of successful business.  However, his life begins to unravel when he notices the cover of a book his wife is reading:  The Diary of a Young Girl.  Peter is haunted by Anne's image.  He feels all the things any survivor feels:  guilt, anger, anguish.

While the reader knows that Peter Van Pels died days before Mauthausen was liberated, the details Feldman includes in her novel begins to convince the reader otherwise.  I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the controversy surrounding the dramatization of Anne's diary.  I had only heard of the controversy after reading Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife.

I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed Feldman's novel.  While I was inclined to believe the book would be sugar-coated tripe, it was actually a compelling look at what could have been.