As Long As I Hope to Live: The moving, true story of a Jewish girl and her schoolfriends under Nazi occupation

Claudia Carli has written a book about Alie, a Jewish schoolgirl in Amsterdam, and her friends, who did not survive the War. Through the discovery of a friendship album, she has traced and preserved their lives, bringing them to life with their writings and everyday hopes, pleasures, and longings.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 24 June 2021
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

An extraordinary book, filled with vivid and heart-breaking stories, has been unearthed by Claudia Carli. Through the discovery of a precious friendship album that belonged to 12-year-old Alie, a Jewish schoolgirl in Amsterdam, Carli has painstakingly traced and preserved the lives of an entire class of girls, most of whom tragically did not survive the War.

Alie and her friends come to life on the pages of this extraordinary book, their everyday hopes, pleasures, and longings offset by the constant fear of a knock on the door, a missing friend from class, or a family member taken away.

In 1943, Alie and her mother were destined to meet their fate in Sobibor. However, Alie's sister Gretha, who had survived Auschwitz, kept her promise to her sister and preserved the friendship album, holding onto hope for as long as she could.

This book stands as a unique window into occupied Amsterdam and the girls who will now never be forgotten, alongside the diaries of Anne Frank and "The Cutout Girl." Carli's dedication to preserving their stories is a testament to the power of memory and the importance of never forgetting the sacrifices made during such dark times.

Weight: 658g
Dimension: 163 x 241 x 41 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529385922