Dearest Anne

As Rivi Shenhar comes of age in mid-1970s Israel, social change is in the air and peace talks between Israel and Egypt are in the works. After divorce shatters her family, Rivi is raised by her neglectful mother and helps care for her two younger brothers. She documents her feelings of abandonment and longing in a diary addressed to Anne Frank—a conceit that actually works—and develops a crush on her vibrant, soon-to-be-married literature teacher, a woman named Michaela Berg. To Rivi's amazement, Michaela reciprocates. Katzir (Matisse Has the Sun in His Belly ) takes pains to paint their relationship as tender, loving and often erotic, one that provides desperately needed intimacy for both. She also draws parallels between Rivi and Anne Frank: difficulty with their mothers, a need for privacy and a budding interest in sexuality. The power of unconditional love fuels Rivi's development into a confident young woman, a development Katzir telescopes nicely in the book's finale. (June)