Diary
The Diary of a Young Girl
Het Achterhuis
Anne Frank · 1947
Synopsis
For her thirteenth birthday, on 12 June 1942, a Jewish adolescent in Amsterdam receives a notebook and begins writing in it. A few weeks later, her family takes refuge in the annexe of the building where her father works, with another family and then a middle-aged dentist. For more than two years, she recounts life for eight in an enclosed space, the quarrels, the humour and the forced intimacy, and her wish to become a writer one day.
Context
Miep Gies gathered up the notebooks in the annexe a few hours after the arrest and handed them to Otto Frank when he learned that his daughter would not return. After hesitating, he decided to have them published: the book appeared on 25 June 1947 under the title Het Achterhuis, with as subtitle the dates of the letters it brings together. It has since inspired a play, films, television adaptations and even an opera; the French translation appeared from Calmann-Lévy.
Who it is for
A diary kept between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, easy to read. It can be read in all the major languages.
Prizes and reception
One of the most widely read books in the world, it has become a classic of war literature and has been translated into more than thirty languages.