Alice Hoffman’s prolific writing career started when she was 21 and a student at Stanford. Encouraged by her mentor while there, she had her first short story published in the magazine Fiction, which resulted in then-editor, Todd Solotaroff, reaching out to ask if she had a novel. Thus, the creation of her first full-length fictional novel, Property Of was born. Since then, she’s penned over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.  

Her upcoming book, When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary, published by Scholastic and scheduled to be released September 17, 2024, will be a welcome addition to her writing for young readers. Scholastic approached Hoffman about writing the story of Anne Frank before she and her family were forced into hiding. When asked what her initial reaction to this project was, Hoffman said, “I was so delighted when Scholastic approached me with the proposal of writing a novel about Anne Frank, who has so influenced my life and my writing. And I’ve never had an experience like this (being approached by a publisher about a particular project), so it felt like it was meant to be.” 

Writing this book included a collaboration with Anne Frank House which allowed Hoffman access to their archives and the Frank apartment. When asked what the most revealing part of that experience was she commented, “It was very exciting to work with the Anne Frank House and very much an honor. I think the most emotional part for me was when I visited the Frank’s apartment where they lived before they went into hiding. This was an ordinary family living an ordinary life until the bombs fell and the whole world changed.”  

Any fan of Alice Hoffman will recognize that some of her novels are historically based, like  Incantation, The Dove Keepers, The World That We Never Knew, and The Marriage of Opposites which all examine aspects of Jewish history so writing this new novel was somewhat familiar to the author. Hoffman also has personal ties to Jewish history through her Russian-Jewish grandmother. When asked whether her grandmother influenced her choice to write stories with a Jewish history theme she answered, “I started writing more historical fiction and historical fiction that was connected to Jewish history after the death of my grandmother. I was very close to her, and she was a big part of my writing life and always supported everything I wanted to do and was a great storyteller.”   

As mentioned, Hoffman has numerous historical fiction titles in her bibliography which is a unique perspective; a fictional voice based on fact. Hoffman reflects on how she finds a balance between the facts of the story and the fictional narrative in her writing process saying, “I want every historical fact to be correct, but one can never know everything about the past, and so it’s important to also be able to invent conversations and emotions.” Specific to When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary, she notes a particular challenge in that balance of fact and fiction, “In writing about Anne Frank, I wanted to be very historically correct, but I also wanted her to come alive on the page for readers. She is the greatest first-person narrator, so I knew from the very start that it would not be a first-person narration I could ever compare.”

Since most of Hoffman’s writing is adult fiction, one could reasonably wonder if delving into young adult and children’s writing might require adjustments. Specific to this new book, we asked if she finds the need to change her approach to writing when she writes for younger readers, especially when working with serious subject matter. She responded, “I always feel that I’m writing for the reader, that I am often the reader I was at the age of 12 or 16 or 23. When I write for young adults and children, I feel that I can be more daring and that they’re more accepting of magic and emotional content. When I’m writing about serious subject matter, I’m aware that children and teens are thinking about these issues all the time and that it’s best if we as adults realize that it’s important to discuss serious issues.”

Whether she’s writing for child or adult audiences, Alice Hoffman seems to have some inherent magic of her own making when words land on the page. We can only hope that she continues to share her gift with us. When asked about what we can look forward to next from her she told us, “ I never know what I’ll be writing next, but I think it will be historical fiction that tries to tell the story of a woman or a girl who wasn’t allowed to tell her own story.” 

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