And the Wolves Howled , Fragments of Two Lifetimes

by Barbro Karlen

For as long as she can remember, Barbro Karlén has recalled a previous existence as Anne Frank, author of the famous diary. Now, prompted by a series of events that culminated in a struggle for survival, she tells her amazing story. She takes us from her early fame as a best-selling child literary sensation in her native Sweden to her years as a policewoman and successful horse trainer. But this is no ordinary life history. As the victim of discrimination, personal vendettas, media assassination, libel, and attempted murder, Karlén is eventually shown the karmic background to these events. Glimpsing fragments of her former life, she begins to understand how forces of destiny reach out from the past into the present, and she is finally free to be herself. This the story of a supernatural struggle for truth in the face of discrimination and lies. Eight pages of illustrations.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2000

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the true account from Barbro Karlen who has had memories since early childhood of being Anne Frank. She never shared this information or the memories publicly until recently. Although the book discusses these memories to an extent, the book is more focused on her current life and the challenges she has faced in what is described as possibly being the result of her former life.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have written and rewritten this review again and again - always very harsh and brutally honest but this book is an autobiography despite being written in third person and the name being changed so in respect for whatever parts of it are truthful I’ll keep it to a few simple notes for anyone looking to read it.

first off, if you are interested in barbro karlén and her claims, watch a documentary or read the well done afterward by thomas meyer. if you are interested in a lot of drama over horses, read this book. secondly, I’m going to chose to give karlén the befit of the doubt and believe that the swedish to english book translator is responsibly for the poor quality of the writing.

this still ended up pretty unkind but this was truly such a rough reading experience. I finished it so quickly by skimming most of it but I still dedicated time to it and will keep it on my yearly challenge ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Oakley C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, I made it through twenty pages and just had to stop. This is some of the WORST ever writing I have encountered. Didactic, maudlin, rife with syrupy clichés, and utilizing an incredibly stupid and irritating third person technique, the greater story and ideas (which are fascinating) get lost under the weight of so much garbage prose. Oh, and the "poetry" is exceptionally shit, even for a "child prodigy." Anne Frank was a much, much more engaging writer than this fraud.

[Lynda Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having heard about this story of a young Swedish writer who had memories of being Anne Frank in a previous lifetime, I was curious enough to want to read the personal account for myself.

First off - those hoping to read more about Anne Frank will be disappointed. This book is not about Anne Frank. It is about Barbro Karlen's memories about having been Anne Frank, and if the account is to be believed, how she had to learn to cope with the traumatic memories of what her former incarnated self had had to endure. This runs into her adult life too, where she experiences both workplace bullying and scapegoating. That is the trouble with undergoing serious abuse - the trauma has to be worked through again and again, until it is resolved. The people who persecuted Karlen at work may or may not have been camp guards from that period in history too, but whether the issue is post-traumatic stress effects or bad karma, it all seems to be one and the same when it comes to trying to find ways of coping with it.

Another possible explanation for Karlen's difficulty with authority figures could be due to what comes across in this book as a certain naivete, and some absence of servility on the part of the celebrated child prodigy writer in dealing with prickly male egos or self-important jobsworths in the workplace. Tall poppy syndrome is probably endemic in most countries.

It was perhaps a good therapeutic move that Karlen becomes the thing she is scared of - of people in uniform, so she becomes a mounted police officer herself. In latter years, Karlen emerges as a pretty horsy woman, once she was done with being the young, gifted writer Anne Frank couldn't carry on to be, due to having died so young.

I have been acquainted with the research of Dr Jim Tucker, again the common denominator of cases such as these is that an earlier life is remembered because the individual concerned died horrifically in their earlier life. If Karlen is a fraud, it would have to be wondered why she would be so willing to write about something bound to anger victims of the holocaust and generally make herself open to still more media attack. If she had been looking to garner more popularity and fame through writing this, then this can scarcely have been the best way of going about it!

Also there are inconsistencies about the nature of Anne's death and other details that are not part of the Anne Frank canon of received knowledge and the question has to be asked whether or not these might be embellishments created as a means of making sense of difficult current experiences.

Either way, has to be asked what a parent is supposed to do if their small child reports memories of an earlier life - if this life was difficult, what are the child and the parents supposed to do about it. Either way too, the book maybe has to be read on its own terms.

Those interested in Frank's life and death may be better off sticking to material specifically about her. Those more interested in reincarnation might find more stories to corroborate this one in the literature of Tim Tucker's predecessor, Ian Stephenson if they wish to pursue that topic still further.

[Gabriella Alziari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really unlike any other book I have ever read. I started it and couldn't put it down the whole first day. This is the a biography of Barbro Karlen's life, who believes that she is the reincarnation of Anne Frank. The memories she was born with and the dreams that haunted her for years are powerful to say the least, and it is interesting to see how her past life carried over into this new one. As the International Herald Tribune states, this book "deserves to be taken seriously." To those who doubt past lives, I would urge you to read this as a challenge to yourself. It will not necessarily convince you, but it will give you a deep insight into the fact that our universe is so much greater than the here and now-- to the point that we cannot explain everything with tangible facts and scientific evidence. I admire Karlen's bravery and her unrelenting desire to find justice.

[Evelyn R-B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting biography with the suggestion that the author had lived before as Anna Frank. (Her dreams tell reveal her capture in the Annex in Amsterdam and about the circumstances of her death).
The beginning of the book had a good pace and keeps the readers' interest. As the plot thickens, her time in the mounted police and as a dressage rider and trainer, I found the book slows down and become heavy.
The book's translation is not very good good.

[Chrisann Justice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. I appreciate the concept that dramas in our current life may be related to dramas in our past lives. It somehow makes difficult and unexplainable conflicts easier to deal with.

[Shanshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a lot of potential at the outset: it has one of the most interesting (and true!) stories to tell, it involves a subject that most people don't but would love to know more about (horses!), and it's related to a figure of much historical significance. Somehow it didn't live up to its potential - not because the author can't write - Barbra is a fine writer and has a great command of language. This is also not because the story does not have a Hollywood ending - the heroine vindicated, wrongs righted, justice prevailed. To the contrary, the fact that the story shows a puzzling way of how life unfolds could have and should have, in my humble opinion, provided the basis for the central themes of the book: the failure of human justice vis-a-vis the triumph of God's, the profound alchemical, transformative effect of actual, human experience - especially the most difficult ones, and the essential human spiritual effort searching for meaning in the midst of the ever-changing phenomenal world. A good read nevertheless, and a courageous endeavor to tell "The Story" of one's own life.

[Ronald J Schulz · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am a believer in reincarnation, have studied a few well-researched cases, and am well informed on the holocaust, I found this story fell too much into the endless rabbit hole of her personal disputes with her mounted police co-workers. Only at the beginning and end has she much to say about her reincarnation. Unfortunately, I found the last part, the story of her sexual attack by a Nazi who was then shot by his jealous girlfriend to be implausible the way she tells it, given what I know about the concentration camp experience. My heart goes out to her nonetheless, whether she is fabricating or misremembering her past life experience because I know how fragile memory can be. Maybe she could try some professional past life regression to get the details she seems to have missed here. Me too, when I can find it. We need to open this new frontier.

[Jostalady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellently written. The relatable experiences of becoming a social target and the terrifying recollections of being Anne Frank in a past life evoke powerful emotions. Without any effort to convince us, her deeply felt experiences pique the curiosity to listen to people experiencing these memories.

She wrote it from her own experiences and had not read The Diary of Anne Frank. She got the blessing from the Frank family before publishing.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about a Swedish woman who thought she was reincarnated as Anne Frank. She was a top selling poet and writer as a child. The book talks about her life as a mounted policewoman and her work with horses. The appendices deal with reincarnation and not her actual life. I actually skimmed the reincarnation part, but found her life circumstances to be more interesting.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly about her present life. It's boring.

[Citra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Karlen tells a compelling story about reincarnation, about her past life memories as a relevant historical figure of the IIWW and the repercussions of that last life on her present.

[Gemma F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I came across this book! It is such an interesting and eye opening story of love, loss and fighting through the darkness! Sara/Barbro's plight is truly remarkable. I wish her all the best!

[Leah Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book as a kid.

[Janice Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style didn't really appeal to me at first, but wow, it was really emotionally impacting.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

And the Wolves Howled: Fragments of Two Lifetimes