Dearest Anne
A Tale of Impossible Love
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- USD 17.99
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- USD 17.99
Descripción editorial
An Israeli girl's coming of age is told through a diary addressed to Anne Frank in this powerful novel—"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 diaries—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 love—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 woman—and writer—is deftly handled, in "metaphoric language that is amazingly sensuous and precise" (Globes).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Three June titles from independent presses take on discovery... and recovery.Dearest AnneJudith Katzir. Feminist, paper (344p) ; $55 cloth As Rivi Shenhar comes of age in mid-1970s Israel, social change is in the air and peace talks between Israel and Egypt are in the works. After divorce shatters her family, Rivi is raised by her neglectful mother and helps care for her two younger brothers. She documents her feelings of abandonment and longing in a diary addressed to Anne Frank a conceit that actually works and develops a crush on her vibrant, soon-to-be-married literature teacher, a woman named Michaela Berg. To Rivi's amazement, Michaela reciprocates. Katzir (Matisse Has the Sun in His Belly) takes pains to paint their relationship as tender, loving and often erotic, one that provides desperately needed intimacy for both. She also draws parallels between Rivi and Anne Frank: difficulty with their mothers, a need for privacy and a budding interest in sexuality. The power of unconditional love fuels Rivi's development into a confident young woman, a development Katzir telescopes nicely in the book's finale.
