Dearest Anne: A Tale of Impossible Love

An Israeli girl's coming of age is told through a diary addressed to Anne Frank in this powerful novelâ€""a temple of love to the imaginary" (Time Out Israel).

 


Love is both the question and the answer in this lyrical novel by one of Israel's bestselling authors. Returning to her hometown as an adult, Rivi Shenhar discovers a collection of her old diariesâ€"impassioned, plaintive journals she addressed to Anne Frank while growing up in Israel in the 1970s. Reading them takes her back to the isolated, lonely girl she was, living alone with a distant mother, but also to the love affair that changed her life.


 


When her young literature teacher provides an outlet for Rivi's frustrations, she never imagines that she will fall in loveâ€"or that such a turbulent, forbidden relationship could last so long, or become so intimate and erotically charged. Rivi's transformation from awkward child to confident womanâ€"and writerâ€"is deftly handled, in "metaphoric language that is amazingly sensuous and precise" (Globes).