INDIANAPOLIS, IN – On Tuesday, had the opportunity to speak with author Alice Hoffman about her new novel, “When We Flew Away,” highlighting the life of Anne Frank before she authored her famous diary.

Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl,” published posthumously by her father Otto Frank, details her life in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. Anne and the rest of her Jewish family had their lives uprooted when they were forced into hiding. After the family was discovered, they were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where Anne was murdered at age 15. “Anne Frank’s diary has since become a central text about the Jewish experience during the Holocaust.

“When We Flew Away” weaves together the story of Anne Frank’s early life. The novel also features archival content provided by the Anne Frank House, as well as Otto Frank’s desperate bids to relocate his family to safety in America gathered from correspondence between Otto Frank and Nathan Straus Jr. from the Straus Historical Society’s Archives.

When talking with Hoffman, the author explained why she decided to write about Anne Frank, noting the rise of antisemitism in the United Kingdom as a catalyst. “My Editor in the U.K. felt that there was such a rise in antisemitism and that people were not reading the diary the way we all used to.”

With the history of the Holocaust growing more distant, her Editor expressed the fear that Anne’s diary would simply disappear from the public consciousness.

Hoffman also expressed her process, noting that she wanted to follow Anne as she was living her life. “I didn’t go back and read the diary again because I didn’t want to know anything after they went into hiding. I tried to block that out of my mind and just tell it as a story, like I didn’t know what the tragic end was.”

Hoffman shared with us the importance of educating new generations about World War II and the Holocaust, noting that each year, the number of survivors dwindles.

“There are so few survivors left, and soon there will not be any,” she said. “We have to remember because if we don’t remember the likelihood of it happening again is just too great.”

Hoffman is a highly acclaimed author of over thirty novels for readers of all ages. Her titles include “The Dovekeepers,” “The World That We Knew,” “The Marriage of Opposites,” and “The Invisible Hour.”

To learn more about Alice Hoffman and “When We Flew Away,” visit alicehoffman.com.