Annelies / David R. Gillham / 402 pages

What an intriguing book!!  We all know the story of Anne Frank.  David Gillham takes this part of history and writes a "What if ?" novel.  His premise is what if Anne Frank survived the death camp?  The author did a wonderful job of telling this story.  It took him several years to do the research to write this novel.  The first part of the book follows the story we know of Anne Frank.  But then the author has Anne surviving the death camp.  Anne is reunited with her father, Otto, in postwar Amsterdam.  The author includes the actual people that we know from Anne's story, but also creates a few characters to tell this story.  The reader follows Anne as she struggles with survival guilt and trying to pick up her life. Reading this book made me feel like I was actually in postwar Amsterdam.  Excellent writing and research!