by Ellen Feldman

In Anne Frank’s diary, she revealed that she was gradually falling in love with Peter van Daan, whose family lived with hers, hidden away in the secret annex. In this novel, he is called Peter van Pels, he survived the Nazis, and he is now a wealthy and contented real estate developer in New Jersey. But when his wife begins reading the famous diary, Peter becomes a different person. He is paranoid and depressed, he loses his ability to speak, he even contemplates suicide. Why he reacts so violently is gradually revealed, as Peter’s traumatic past bears on his present life, and several kinds of guilt combine to imperil his hard-won sanity.