MARGOT
A story of sisters that imagines Anne Frank’s sister Margot had survived World War II and was living in America, by the author of The Hours Count and The Lost Letter.
“Inventive… Cantor’s ‘what-if’ story combines historical fiction with mounting suspense and romance, but above all, it is an ode to the adoration and competition between sisters.”
“A convincing, engaging might-have-been. Frankophiles will want to dig in.”
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DESCRIPTION
Anne Frank has long been a symbol of bravery and hope, but there were two sisters hidden in the annex, two young Jewish girls, one a cultural icon made famous by her published diary and the other, nearly forgotten.
In the spring of 1959, The Diary of Anne Frank has just come to the silver screen to great acclaim, and a young woman named Margie Franklin is working in Philadelphia as a secretary at a Jewish law firm. On the surface she lives a quiet life, but Margie has a secret: a life she once lived, a past and a religion she has denied, and a family and a country she left behind.
Margie Franklin is really Margot Frank, older sister of Anne, who did not die in Bergen-Belsen as reported, but who instead escaped the Nazis for America. But now, as her sister becomes a global icon, Margie’s carefully constructed American life begins to fall apart. A new relationship threatens to overtake the young love that sustained her during the war, and her past and present begin to collide. Margie is forced to come to terms with Margot, with the people she loved, and with a life swept up into the course of history.
PRESS & PRAISE
“Inventive… Cantor’s ‘what-if’ story combines historical fiction with mounting suspense and romance, but above all, it is an ode to the adoration and competition between sisters.”
— O, the Oprah Magazine
“A convincing, engaging might-have-been. Frankophiles will want to dig in.”
— People, 3 1/2 stars
“Ingenious. . . will have you smiling -- and fighting off tears.” —Ladies Home Journal, October 2013 Book Club Pick
“Cantor's re-imagining of Margot's life is believable and wistful. Just as Anne's diary allowed others to experience her history so intimately, Cantor's fictional tribute to her sister is a heartbreakingly masterful corollary, ultimately commemorating the abbreviated life of this remarkable young woman. ” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“intriguing. . .with compelling sensitivity”
—USA Today
“a page-turner. . . a wishful, thought-provoking love story” —Bust Magazine
“A thoughtful speculation about post-war life.”
—Kansas City Star, The Star's top books of 2013
“If Huffington Post Books gave a star rating system for books, Margot deserves five bold stars. ” — The Huffington Post
“Teens who have just completed Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, or who are fascinated by the Holocaust, will find much to absorb them in this quiet, introspective novel.” — School Library Journal, Adult Books 4 Teens
“Psychologically subtle, satisfyingly suspenseful, and sensitively written.” — Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth I: A Novel
“A compassionate imagining of what might have happened had Margot Frank survived.” — Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers
“A moving, affecting novel.”
— Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent and Birds of Paradise
“A haunting meditation on who we really are versus who we wish we had been, regret, loss and how we love in the face of sorrow. Glowing as a rare jewel, Margot is about discovering the truths of our lives, no matter what the cost.”
— Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow
“Using historical facts and people we know and love, Cantor fills in the lost details of their lives with her imagination, and reaps a beautiful and redeeming new conclusion for a terrible chapter in history.” — Erika Robuck, author of Call Me Zelda and Hemingway’s Girl
“A moving, spellbinding book about sisters, memory, and love. Jillian Cantor re-imagines what might have happened had Anne Frank's sister Margot survived and come to live in post-war America. Haunted by her past, Margot is the forgotten sister — and though she kept her own diary during the war, it was never recovered and only now do we finally get an intimate glimpse of her life. Spectacular!”
—Jen Lancaster, New York Times bestselling author of The Tao of Martha
“This is a book that can be read in one sitting, and that will be remembered long after that.” —Beth Kephart, author of Handling the Truth
“She had me from the start. . . a tender re-imagining” —Susan Vreeland, New York Times Bestselling Author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue
“Part love story, part family mystery, this singular, bold, and elegantly paced story is rich with historical imagery, but the ingenious plot is all Cantor’s. Margot is the sort of book that remains with you long after the final page.”
— Ilie Ruby, author of The Salt God’s Daughter and The Language of Trees
“Margot offers us the other teenaged girl who lived in hiding for two years in that annex. It honors the memory of a shadow, of a ghost and boldly explores how icons are made and what is lost in this process. Margot examines history vs. story and how we cling to the fictions we tell ourselves.”
— T. Greenwood, author of Two Rivers, Grace, and Bodies of Water
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