A new book that is said to portray a fictional account of Anne Frank’s sexual awakening has been condemned as “cashing in” on a respected historical figure — though both the author and publisher have denied the allegations by a British newspaper.
British novelist Sharon Dogar has produced a fictional retelling of the life of Peter van Pels, a close friend of Anne’s, in her book “Annexed” — referring to the space in Amsterdam where the Frank and van Pels families lived in hiding together. According to the Sunday Times, the book, set to come out in September, includes graphic accounts and intimate details of their time together during the war, as imagined by the author.
The Sunday Times article claims a lovemaking scene was removed from the final version and that the book makes up explicit encounters between Anne and Peter.
However, Dogar and Andersen Press have denied the allegations.
The article quotes a scene from the book in which Peter tells Anne he is “scared he will never make love to a girl,” and he speaks of “slipping my hand beneath the fabric of her dress and holding her a little tighter.”
In another section, he describes “feeling the warm weight of her on my neck and the soft press of her lips on my cheek. Then my mouth finds hers. And, once it’s there, I cannot stop.”
The article also quotes Andersen Press’ editorial director, Charlie Sheppard, as saying the author believes Anne and Peter had sexual relations.
“Sharon feels they had sex, but this was taken out from an earlier version,” Sheppard told the newspaper. “Sharon reread and reread Anne’s diaries and is in no doubt that they were in love. They also talk about sex in the diaries. After all, the hormones of both were raging.”
However, Andersen Press objected on June 21 to the Sunday Times article, calling it a “total misrepresentation.”
“Sharon is very aware of the enduring importance that Anne’s account has for generations both past, present and future, and with this in mind has dedicated herself to meticulous research, working with Anne’s official biographer and communicating with the Anne Frank estate to produce a beautiful story of life in the annex from Peter’s point of view. It is categorically not an attempt to ‘sex up’ her incredibly important story,” a spokesperson for Andersen Press said.
Asked about the quotes used in the article, the spokesperson said, “Sharon has been inspired by Anne’s account, and her book is partly about the love that grew between Anne and Peter in the most unusual and unbearable of situations. She has chosen to depict the passionate, inspirational and fiery young woman who leaps from the pages of the diary, and she’s written a wonderful novel about a life lived in hiding with her — and then beyond the diary in the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps.”
In the article, Anne’s first cousin, Buddy Elias, 84, is quoted as saying that the book’s characterization of the two was “unnecessary” and “wrong.”
“From what Otto [Frank] told me about Peter, he was very shy,” he said, “but in this book he is given a character he did not possess.”
However, Andersen Press said Dogar communicated closely with Elias, who lives in Switzerland, throughout the drafts of her book and that in his last correspondence he had told Dogar: “I honor your opinion about Anne, as a person, as a writer, and I’m sure your motives are good. I wish you satisfaction with your book.”
The Anne Frank Trust, meanwhile, said it was “dismayed” by the alleged sexualization of Frank and van Pels and feared it would offend Holocaust survivors.
“If this novelist wants to write honestly about teenage sex, why not use her own fictional characters instead of blatantly exploiting the millions of devoted readers who she well knows will buy this book purely because the young girl portrayed is Anne Frank?” said trust co-founder and director Gillian Walnes.
“I am afraid the words ‘cashing’ and ‘in’ come prominently to mind,” Walnes added.
In a statement on June 21, the author said that she had at no time suggested that the two had sexual relations and that the article was designed to upset people.
“I’m afraid people may have fallen into the trap of believing what you read in the papers,” Dogar said. “At no stage in my book, now, or ever, have I suggested that Anne and Peter had sex. It would be so helpful if people could reserve judgment until having read the book.”