Two best friends' lives were about to change for ever, neither would ever be forgotten... 'As a girl I witnessed the world I loved crumble and vanish, destroyed by senseless hatred, and with it, my best friend Anne'When Hannah's family flee from the Nazi to Amsterdam, she soon strikes up a friendship with a girl just like her freshly arrived from Germany. Precocious and outspoken, the girl's name is Anne Frank and for seven blissful years the inseparable pair navigate school, boys and coming of age.
Then one day in 1942, as the Nazi occupation intensifies, they are separated without warning. Hannah calls on Anne and can't find a trace of her, breakfast dishes still in the sink, beds unmade. Anne and her family have seemingly vanished.
They are told the Franks have fled to Switzerland. As Hannah is tormented by the fate of her friend, hoping she is alive and well elsewhere, her own family's fate unfolds. After attempts to flee themselves, the SS finally come for them and they are taken to the transit camp Westerbork.
Eventually Hannah, her father and younger sister Gabi are transported to Bergen-Belsen. Amid horrific conditions with death all around, it is during Hannah's darkest point at the concentration camp that she hears astonishing of news of Anne. Desperate to save her friend who is weak and struggling to survive, Hannah risks her life to help her.
In an incredible memoir of hope, strength and defiance, Hannah shares the intimate, loving portrait of her friendship with the young diarist who would go on to capture the hearts of millions around the world.
English edition