Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

The Definitive Edition

By: Anne Frank

Narrated by: Selma Blair

THE DEFINITIVE EDITION • Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, the remarkable diary that has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.

Updated for the 75th Anniversary of the Diary’s first publication with a new introduction by Nobel Prize–winner Nadia Murad

“The single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust ... remains astonishing and excruciating.”—The New York Times Book Review

In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annex” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

Critic reviews

“A truly remarkable book.”
—The New York Times

“One of the most moving personal documents to come out of World War II.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The new edition reveals a new depth to Anne’s dreams, irritations, hardship, and passions. . . . There may be no better way to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II than to reread The Diary of a Young Girl, a testament to an indestructible nobility of spirit in the face of pure evil.”
—Chicago Tribune

“The single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust . . . remains astonishing and excruciating.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“How brilliantly Anne Frank captures the self-conscious alienation and naïve self-absorption of adolescence.”
—Newsday

You made a grown man cry

When reading history there is no shortage of dry text that will give the you the facts and dates. What you get with this diary is one real human story against the weight of a ideology bent on killing people like her. I like the style of the narrator, it made me feel like I was hearing the words right from a teenage girl. Anne seems to have been a smart intuitive girl who knew the situation she was in. She also was a teenage girl and her story is not just about hiding from Nazi thugs. It's about her relationship to her mother and father, and about a boy and working out her feelings around all those things. The world would have been a better place with Anne Frank still around. When it got to the part that explained this is where the diary ended tears erupted and would not stop.

Great diary!

In my 50's I have a greater appreciation for history. I wanted to know more about the Hitler era and this gave a true account of a victim in hiding. I'd previously read a story of a German family who allowed someone to hide in their basement. It's a sad era of history, but interesting. Narration and story were great.

Still amazed.

Where does Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the very first book in my library to get 5 stars in every aspect.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl?

Several. I was particularly torned every time she would think of her future life as an adult and her constant struggle with her inner and outer Anne.

Which scene was your favorite?

Towards the end: "It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again."

Amazing performance

Narrator was brilliant. She makes it feel more personal, more human. Never read the book before but I felt like I really knew Anne and I felt deep sorrow for her fate and her truncated dreams. The diary stops so suddenly, with her display of a strong determination of showing the world what she was capable of, beyond the labels of a teenage girl who was simply too young to understand. Made me feel the horror of the war. It was so close to end...

Great Book

Great book. a must read or must listen. She is an amazing 15 year old girl. I wish there was more detail on her life after capture