Journalists continue to visit Zlata and compare her to Anne Frank. She does not enjoy this type of notoriety and hopes that she can escape Frank’s fate. She completes sixth grade with straight A’s. At this point, the family has had no electricity, water, or bread for three months, and food is becoming scarce. With winter on the horizon, Zlata feels dread.

In early August, Zlata receives word from Auntie Boda that her cat, Cici, has died from pregnancy complications. With music exams on the horizon, Zlata must remain focused and move on with her life, though she misses her cat dearly. By mid-August, the family receives word from Maja, Bojana, and Nedo, who has joined Maja and Bojana in Vienna. He will marry on August 26. Everyone is happy he is safe. The family, along with neighbors, celebrate Nedo’s wedding day with a cake and whatever food they can gather. Zlata notes that it is not a real wedding but an imitation.

Zlata’s mother’s friend, Auntie Radmila, and her husband, Uncle Tomo, leave Sarajevo. Her mother’s only remaining friend is her co-worker, Zlata’s auntie Ivanka, and the family knows that she will be leaving soon. Zlata’s best friend, Mirna, is still in the city, and they have sleepovers in a semblance of a normal childhood. Zlata worries and wonders about the fate of her family once everyone has gone for good. It distresses her to see her mother so sad. To make matters worse, the family has noticed that the mail has stopped.

Journalists visit so often that Zlata has become good friends with some. Alexandra, a reporter from Le Figaro, has visited many times, sharing stories of towns like Mostar, reduced to ash and rubble. Zlata and others fear that Sarajevo may suffer the same fate. Zlata still finds refuge in her diary and expresses gratitude to have Mimmy waiting for her patiently to record her thoughts and observations. Winter creeps closer.

Still, people engage in hopeful acts. The family’s neighbor, Samra, marries on September 4 in a rushed civil ceremony. They gather for a lunch afterward. Talks continue in Geneva, and Zlata again expresses disdain for the politicians who talk while the war rages on around her. School resumes, more strained than before, with four grades taught in the same room.

On September 9, the family celebrates Zlata’s mother’s birthday with a kiss and well wishes, as this is all they have left to exchange. Gunfire returns across Sarajevo, and though the family does not have to shelter in the cellar, they fear that the old pattern has begun again. More peace talks are set for September 21, though they have fallen through so many times Zlata does not think peace feasible. In fact, every death proves peace is impossible: All told, 15,000 people have died in Sarajevo, including 3,000 children. In addition, 50,000 people face permanent disability, including lost limbs. The cemeteries and parks are too full to bury new victims.

With the new peace talks, rationed electricity returns, but the family can only get 4 hours of electricity every 56 hours. They must scramble to do all their day’s chores in those four hours. Bread is also rationed at 300 grams per person every 3 days. By September 29, there is conditional acceptance of the Geneva agreement, which Zlata concludes is non-acceptance of the agreement and a promise of more hardship ahead. Again, she writes that she hopes to escape Anne Frank’s fate.

Zlata’s reporter friend, Alexandra, visits again. Mail returns, and the family receives word from cousins Oga and Jaca. They inform the family that Mount Jahorina and the lodges there have been completely looted and destroyed: Happy memories of ski trips in the winter are all that remain. Zlata also receives a letter from a boy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Brandon, also 12, has written as part of a pen pal exchange. Both letters arrive months late.

Though the family has received word that the rest of her diary will be published and released internationally, the return of shelling dampens the exciting news. On October 17, Zlata writes that 590 shells fell throughout the day. Six died and 56 were wounded. The forced return to the cellar is unbearable.

Though she feels alone and cut off, Zlata reminds herself that people do care and are thinking of the family. After the bad day of shelling, many reporters, including those from a Canadian TV crew and Zlata’s reporter friends, Janine and Alexandra, arrive with food and supplies. Though it is not much and not enough to stop the war, the family is grateful for the support.

There are no entries for November.

Zlata opens her December entry with a description of the lights, traffic, food, and bustling life of Paris, where she and her family are staying. Then she recounts how the family arrived.

On December 6, the family receives word that they will be flown to Paris to promote her diary’s international release. They are told to be ready by December 8, leaving only one day to say goodbye and pack. Zlata explains the terrible mixed feelings of joy and sorrow to be leaving such a terrible situation knowing that friends and family and even special belongings must stay behind.

On December 8, the family waits for the personnel carrier to pick them up. It never arrives. That evening, they instead go to the TV station for a live show with the French defense minister, François Léotard. The defense minister promises Zlata and her family that he will get them out of Sarajevo, and on December 22, Jean-Christophe Rufin, the defense minister’s advisor, negotiates their departure.

This time the UNPROFOR personnel carrier comes, and the family leaves for the airport on December 23. Zlata describes the ruined streets and buildings of Sarajevo and the flight across the Adriatic to Ancona, where the family boards a French plane that brings them to Paris. In Paris, they enjoy amenities they have gone two years without, like water in a hot tub and fresh food. Zlata’s reporter friend, Alexandra, meets her at the TFI building where they will be interviewed with an enormous bouquet of flowers. The family meets Mr. Bernard Fixot, the diary’s publisher, and his associates, who took part in arranging their escape from Sarajevo. Zlata concludes with a meditation on the lights of Paris and the darkness she has escaped. She is hopeful that her own light will once again shine but understands that a part of her remains in Sarajevo. Until light returns there, a part of her will be in darkness.