“Practical Magic” Author Pens New Anne Frank Novel: 'Love and Hope Can Change the World' (Exclusive)

Alice Hoffman's new middle-grade novel explores Anne's life before she and her family were hidden in the annex

Bestselling author Alice Hoffman, best-known for Practical Magic, which became the cult classic film of the same name, is turning her pen toward an important historical figure like we've never seen her before: Anne Frank.

In When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary, out Sept. 17 from Scholastic Press, we get to see Anne's world before she and her family were forced into hiding in the annex of her father's office.

Related: Read an Excerpt From Alice Hoffman's Upcoming Anne Frank Novel: 'More Important Than Ever’ (Exclusive)

Hoffman draws on her extensive research on that period to explore what happens when "state-sponsored discrimination turns ordinary people into monsters, the Jews in the Netherlands are caught in an inescapable swell of violence and hate, and Anne is shaped as both a young woman and as a writer who will change the world," according to the publisher's synopsis of the book.

The book, which is geared toward middle grade readers ages 8-12, includes archival content from the Anne Frank House and information about Otto Frank's desperate attempts to secure his family safety in America, gathered from correspondence between Frank and Nathan Straus, Jr. from the Straus Historical Society’s Archives.

Related: Who Betrayed Anne Frank? Suspect Named After Years-Long Investigation Led by FBI Veteran

It recounts Anne Frank’s life prior to the posthumous publication of her famous journal, The Diary of Anne Frank, by her father. Frank’s diary recounted her Jewish family’s experience in hiding during the Holocaust. She began writing in the diary at the age of 13, and the last entry was written three days before the Frank family was found and arrested by Nazi soldiers.

“Anne Frank’s story is more important than ever," the author tells PEOPLE. "We need to remember the damage hatred can do, and how love and hope can change the world.”

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When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman comes out Sept. 17 and is available now for preorder, wherever books are sold.

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