When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary

by Alice Hoffman

How wonderful it is that no one has to wait even a minute to start gradually changing the world… —Anne Frank

When you write it down, they cannot pretend it never happened.

All you needed to believe in yourself was to know that someone loved you, the real you, the you deep inside.

Being pretty wasn’t everything, but feeling that you were worth something was.

when some people are less than others, and only a select few have rights, anyone who doesn’t belong can never be safe.

What they thought would never happen had happened overnight.

unaware that where there are rabbits, there will soon be wolves.

Perhaps that was what it meant to be in love. For a little while at least it was possible to forget everyone else.

You cannot reason with people who are unreasonable,

Evil people tell themselves a story they come to believe. They tell themselves they are good, and everyone else is inhuman. They tell themselves they are doing what heaven would will them to do.

“We’re refusing to believe the story they’re telling about us.”