I guess you
could say that I have an obsession with Anne Frank. I have read pretty
much everything that I can get my hands on and my dream traveling
experience is to visit the Secret Annex. When I found out that there was
a fictionalized book about Margot that took place after the war, I was
very intrigued. Years ago I read
The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank by
Ellen Feldman and thought that it was a very interesting account of how things might have been had Peter survived the war. Jillian Cantor's Margot follows the same idea, only it's Margot who has survived.
Set
years after the end of World War II, Margot Frank (now going by the
name Margie Franklin), lives alone in Philadelphia. She goes to work,
comes home, and doesn't have much of a social life outside of the two.
She doesn't allow anyone to get close to her. She lives with a secret-
her true identity. She is aware that her father is alive and that Anne's
diary is in print. At the opening of the novel, the movie
The Diary of Anne Frank
has just been released as well. Despite all of this, she still keeps
her secret and makes no attempt to reconnect with her past. But there
would be one exception. Before they were pulled from the Annex, she and
Peter made a plan to move to America, change their names and begin new
lives. She is still waiting for the day when she can once again be with
her beloved Peter.
I was really impressed by this book.
It's difficult to take a piece of history and create a fictional story
out of it. It is even more difficult to take said history and rewrite
it. Sadly, we don't have access to Margot's diary (oh how I am hoping it
somehow survived the war and someday it turns up in someone's attic) so
there's no telling how much of this novel could potentially be true,
but Cantor wrote in such a way, it's easy to imagine that these events
could have taken place. Though I started it knowing it was completely
fictionalized, I was very immersed in the plot and feel that this is one
of the best books I have read this year. Anyone that has read Anne's
diary or that has felt that Anne has had an impact on their life should
give this book a read.
Happy Reading!
-Melly
