Alice Hoffman’s new book will imagine Anne Frank’s life before she kept a diary

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — With the cooperation of the Anne Frank House, a novel based on Frank’s life immediately before she began keeping a diary will be released in September by the children’s publisher Scholastic. “When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary” is written by bestselling author Alice Hoffman and scheduled for Sept. 17. The project was initiated by Scholastic editors Lisa Sandell and Miriam Farbey, who thought Hoffman ideal for telling the story. Hoffman is known for “Practical Magic” and other novels about sorcery, but she also has written a novel about the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews.