Diary of a Young Girl

By: Anne Frank

Narrated by: Helena Bonham Carter

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter.

The Diary of Anne Frank Is 'A Monument to The Human Spirit'

One of the most famous accounts of living under the Nazi regime comes from the diary of a 13-year-old Jewish girl, Anne Frank. Edited by her father Otto H. Frank and German novelist Mirjam Pressler, this is a true story to be rediscovered by each new generation.

12th July 1944:

'It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.'

In the summer of 1942, fleeing the horrors of the Nazi occupation, Anne Frank and her family were forced into hiding in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse.

Aged 13, Anne kept a diary of her time in the secret annexe. She movingly revealed how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with hunger, the daily threat of discovery and death and isolation from the outside world.

A thought-provoking record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak, the diary of Anne Frank is a testament to the atrocities of the past and a promise they will never be forgotten.

©2011 Anne Frank Foundation (P)2011 Penguin Books Ltd

Critic Reviews

"A modern classic . . . Anne's diary tells a story that is true, memorable, important and strongly personalized . . . compelling reading." (The Times)

"Anne Frank’s diary is one of the greatest books of the century … As she brings herself and her circumstances into such buzzing, engaged life on the page, she triumphs over her history." (Guardian)

"Still rings down the decades as the most moving testament to the persecution of innocence." ( Daily Mail)

Long due reading

Amazing . Just a plain representation of thoughts although one wonders if the vocabulary of the kid was so rich (for her age). Loss during world wars I’d not just lives but the ideas and talents as well.

Loved the narration.

The style of narration was great. The voice modulation gave a very realistic feel... it seemed seemed​ as if Anne herself was talking.
This was my first audio book and I am surely not disappointed.

well worth a listen, loved it!

I loved the narrator in this reading, the book was well written and I enjoyed the insights offered. I did get emotional at the end. Well worth a listen! Overall I loved it.

Es importante leer este libro

Al margen del contenido por demás enriquecedor como testimonio de una de las épocas más terribles de la humanidad, lo he usado para mejorar mi inglés, resultando un poco por encima de mi nivel B2, sin embargo la experiencia de lectura fue positiva y la comprensión general aceptable...

Immortal

A book every person should read during their youth and then again in adulthood. No other written document has ever brought me closer to the meaning of war than this diary and more even: Anne also opened up parts of my own persona to me and taught me so much about life and love, despite her young age.
What an outstanding person. I like to think that with the success of her book and her immortality through it, her life wish has been fulfilled and she can smile in heaven.

You connect with Anne

Helena Bonham Carter does a spectacular work of narrating this diary, that you are pulled into the life of Anne Frank day by day.

strange ending

really had a very different expectation seems so incomplete and really expected a different more gripping story

Such a insight not only on the war but a youngster at that time

I am fascinated by WW2. This Story is so beautiful and tragic at the same time. I hate the fact that this is not like a movie were you know everything right up to the end. Wish I could know how she felt and feel. Such a brave and wise child. But then again it would have been so hard.

So beautifully tragic

So inspiring and beautifully written. Not what I expected. Loved Helena Bonham Carter reading it!

Witty and funny and historic writing !

Anne Frank is a savage, writing with wisdom beyond her teenage years. A great read that describes 1940's Europe from a Jewish perspective.

So glad I decided to buy this book.

I decided to listen to this after the book remained on my shelf, gathering dust. What an incredible book - Anne's diary entries are so detailed I almost felt I was there watching them all. Beautifully read by Helena Bonham Carter. I didn't want it to end and I felt myself becoming nervous at the thought these people would be caught at any moment. Thank you Anne M Frank.

Excellent book and a must read for any modern teenager

I remember reading this book as a child and loving it and was surprised at 28 years old how poignant and relevant it is still all these years later. As a teenager all the feelings Anne went through I remember feeling which is remarkable seeing as it was written over 70 years ago. The feelings and angst felt might have been the same, but of course our upbringing and circumstances were entirely different which is what makes the book so remarkable.

The most important message that is taken away from this book is how pointless war is and how pointless Anne's subsequent death was. For an innocent Jewish teenager from a family that wasn't even particularly religious, to have been murdered because she was a Jew just seems so tragic and pointless.

The book seems ever more poignant in 2016 as the world again turns a blind eye on a race of people in flight from an oppressive regime. Neighbour turned against neighbour in the 40's and it seems like it was just as justifiable then as it is nowadays. It seems a sad fact that nothing has been learnt from history and the human race repeats it's past mistakes over and over. Very thought provoking book!

I want to go on living even after my death!

This is 70th edition anniversary edition of Anne’s book, it is an amalgamation of all her writing, including parts her father had censored, about thirty percent more text than other editions. A must read for all, it will show a more complex individual and a more expanded explanation for some of the living situation.
Anne died In 1945 in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April or March of that year, she was 15 years old, her crime was to be a jew, for two year of her short life she lived in hiding and left this remarkable document of mans inhumanity.
She was a precocious intelligent girl, that loved life and nature as she tells us many times in her diary. She was a teeneger like many teenagers, fighting with her mother, preoccupied with her own growing up. loving, hating, crying, laughing while imprisoned behind a bookcase with eight other people, keeping quiet and invisible, while pouring her heart out into a diary that makes her come alive through the haze of time.
We will never know any other destiny for this remarkable little woman and jet she achieved some of her dreams by writing her diary and showing us that she was a person first last and always. That she was never a label but the singular, the great Anne Frank.

“5 April 1944: I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that's what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...
And if I don't have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can't imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ...
I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that's inside me!
When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that's a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?”
— Anne Frank

Tissues at the ready...

Would you consider the audio edition of Diary of a Young Girl to be better than the print version?

This is a beautifully narrated version of this increadibly moving diary.
An insight into the thoughts and emothions of a young girl, growing and discovering herself, with the constant fears of life around her. In her well written diary, you'll become familier with all the members of her family, and the people she was forced to live locked up in a few small rooms with. Be prepared to listen to the heart-wrenching sadness, of what happens to each and every one of them.
Helena Bonham Carter does a fantastic job of narrating this powerful sombre, and thought provoking diary, written by a young girl, who wrote this book for no-one but herself, yet sends a story worldwide.

Epic document. Epic performance

I have read some things around this document that I have found revolting. Suggestions that it was a fiction created by Anne's father to make profit - that some sort of scheming Jewish fakery was at hand. I have even read holocaust deniers citing this account to be part of a grand Zionist conspiracy to re-write the war to the benefit of the Jewish people.

When you listen to the narrative performance - which is wonderful (and I wish that all narrative performances on Audible were as sublime) - you will be moved. This is a book that everyone should know and a tragedy that should be taught to all.

**Spoiler Alert**

It is so cruel that Anne Frank, her family and her friends did not make it - just so much further - to survive. That she was loaded onto one of the final - if not the final - cattle train to certain death - is heart breaking. You find yourself staring back through the mists of time, helplessly screaming at the injustice.

You cannot fail to be moved.

Excellent narration

If you could sum up Diary of a Young Girl in three words, what would they be?

Youth, family, survival.

What other book might you compare Diary of a Young Girl to, and why?

Other accounts of people in hiding during WWII. It's such a novel situation that only fellow accounts offer any comparison of surviving under such constant threat of discovery.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Entries where Anne is in a good mood and feeling motivated by her diary, her dear Kitty.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Every time Anne writes about the future, or what she might do 'after the war', are excruciating passages, as we know what happened.

Good

It's interesting to hear about the life of an extraordinary young girl! This is maybe a book to read rather than listen to but still good!

moving and enlightening

The terrible tradgedy that this bright and full of life person oppressed and restrained from enjoying the normal freedom to live openly reminds you how easy it is for those possessed by evil to not only destroy but take the very joy out of others lives.
As a chridtian I pray she be ressurected at the end times to enjoy the life she was so brutally denied.

Excellent

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is well written and an excellent choice. Helena B C is a superb narrator and the story is thoroughly engaging. It is captivating from start to finish. I won't say anymore as some people may not be familiar with the story, although that is unlikely. Definitely choose this book.

excellent rendition by Helena!

I believe Anne Frank liked through Helena's voice. a great effort by countless many to keep these pages live! I enjoyed listening to this audiobook.