ANNE F.

After one of his students commits a terrorist attack, a young teacher turns to Anne Frank, his “Jewish little sister.” A mirror-novel that explores our contemporary identity crisis, radicalisation, the role of education and of transmitting democratic principles.

After one of his students commits a terrorist attack, the narrator, an idealistic writer and teacher who was devoted both to the transmission of knowledge and to literature, is devastated. As a son of immigrant parents who achieved integration through education, he feels overwhelmingly guilty and unable to shoulder the burden of a failure that he sees as entirely his. So he burrows into his worn old copy of Anne Frank's Diary, which he hadn't opened since his school days. In a desperate bid to find meaning in his life once again, he decides to write a letter to his “Jewish little sister,” bringing her back to life in his pages. Will his moving letter bring this man – who is searching for a way to make peace with both himself and his era – out of the darkness and back into the light?

While reminding us of the power of books and of words, our still youthful forty-something teacher will examine his own existence, his vocation and his country's youth, many of whom are torn between tragic events and an identity crisis that reverberates with the darkest pages of modern European history.

He also portrays a father who was essential to his son's education about both civic and secular principles, a father who ran marathons to try to hold back the passage of time. But above all, he looks directly at the dirty little secret that no one in his family ever mentions: his mother's Jewish roots. Unmentioned until that point, they will form the heart of the tale, until the final, liberating outcome.

Born in Saint Etienne in 1973, Hafid Aggoune has written several well-received novels, including Les Avenirs (“The Futures”, Fénéon Prize and L'Armitière Prize). He lives and works in Paris.