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Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne

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From the day her mother gave birth to her in June 1929 to her tragic and untimely death at the age of 15, Carol Ann Lee has written an exquisitely detailed biography of one of the heroines of the Holocaust. In this warts and all portrayal of Anne, her family and the other members of the "Secret Annexe", Lee sticks a balloon into the myth of the cheerful teen who happened to be a Jew hiding from the Nazis. She describes Anne's good and bad points, as well as those who hid with her during those two years in the attic of her father's office. Just like me and others, you will find yourself cheering, full of hope, when the Allies land in Europe, only to be jolted back into reality when the Franks, Van Pels and Dr. Pfeffer are discovered and eventually meet their fates in the death camps. The last few months of Anne's life is not the stuff of fairy tales, and Lee pulls no punches in describing the inhuman living conditions and daily humiliations the concentration camp prisoners had to go through. There is, however, a muted sense of triumph as Miep Gies holds on to the diary. If she had not, we would never have known about Anne, her family and friends, and Lee would not have had the opportunity to write this devastatingly thorough biography. Perhaps the best bio of Anne Frank ever written.