Sarah's Key: A Novel

Quite a moving story! Despite the real WWII history that inspired this novel, the author declares in a Reading Group Gold Selection on page 294 (Kindle), “I am not a historian and did not wish to write a historical novel.” But she did write a page-turner. The main historical event was the Vel’ d’Hiv round-up of French Jews by French Police under orders by France’s Vichy government, implementing Nazi policy toward Nazi goals. It occurred on 16 July 1942 in Paris. Thousands of Jews—husbands, wives and children—were deported to their deaths at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. The book's characters and plot, however, are all fictionalized. Sixty years after the round-up, the heroine, Julia, becomes obsessed with discovering the full story of a 10-year-old girl named Sarah who was taken, along with her parents, but escaped. Sarah grows into adulthood in France and dies in America. We are led step-by-step as Julia gradually solves the mystery and then experiences the high costs of uncovering the secrets, which fall like dominoes, revealing the hidden facts. This forever changes relationships among the characters. A few friends warn her to be careful about opening Pandoras Box and hurting people, but she is haunted and cannot stop. Meanwhile, she becomes pregnant. There is conflict, with high-stakes consequences. As certain characters suffer failure, horror, guilt, stress, anxiety, fear, pain, depression, mercy, aid, support, and success, some old relationships deepen and are strengthened, but some die, and new relationships are formed. Key characters eventually thank her. In the end, we readers come to believe that everyone is better off knowing than not knowing. With open integrity comes freedom and intimacy, all in the pursuit of happiness. It’s impactful. And through fiction, the author convincingly makes the case that the world, and especially the French people, are better off, too, knowing more about and never forgetting this real, indelible, evil stain in France’s history. I join countless others who thank the author. More than 10 million copies have been sold in 42 countries worldwide.

In her novel, "Sarah's Key," Tatiana de Rosnay works to keep the atrocity of the Holocaust alive, known and unforgotten by ensuring that the modern reader fully understands the long-term effect of the Velodrome D'Hiver roundup of Jewish citizens that occurred in Paris in the summer of 1942. With knowledge comes regret and perhaps the ability to ascertain that such an event never happens again in the history of humanity. While the novel successfully reminds its readers that the past does not always marry well with the present--the sadness of old ghosts permeates and weakens pillars of hope and the right to happiness--main character Julia's personal quagmire--her unexpected pregnancy, her husband's failure to age gracefully and her anger with regard to what she perceives as the ambivalence of the French people as a whole--trivializes the impact of Sarah's ultimate decision to let the past win with an improbable ending that seems more an afterthought than an actual foregone conclusion. In order to underline the effect of the past on the present, the story is told from alternating perspectives that are relayed along with their 2002 impact as they are discovered. De Rosnay presents the events as they happen to ten-year-old Sarah Starvinsky who with her mother and father are forced by the French police to deport to an internment camp with thousands of other Jewish/French citizens. While researching a story commemorating the infamous events associated with the Vel D'Hiv sixty years later, journalist Julia Jarmond suspects that the family apartment which she, her husband and daughter are about to renovate and inhabit was acquired by her in-laws during that fateful summer of 1942. Bells of alarm trigger Julia's subsequent investigation of the property and its former denizens and what she uncovers disturbs not only her family's fragile equilibrium but shakes her faith in society's negligence in allowing such an event to occur and still call itself humane. Clever and precocious ten-year-old Sarah locks her younger brother in a hidden closet in their Marais apartment in order to hide him from the gendarmes when they arrive to take her family away. Although she physically survives a horrendous ordeal that will forever etch pictures of unspeakable sadness upon her mind, she must then live with the consequences of not only her actions, but those of a frightened world spinning out of control--a world where, in her eyes, safety no longer exists. De Rosnay drives home the point that the impact of this event on Sarah's ensuing short life symbolizes the death of the integrity of rational egalitarian society, where nothing can be counted on to go right--that personal gain and collaboration with humanity's enemy will come first if such atrocities are allowed to be forgotten without accountability. As a Holocaust story worthy of remembrance, De Rosnay's story hits its mark with a bleak reality that filters into the present day with all its uncomfortable implications as the story of the young girl and the journalist converges into one. However, even though Sarah's tale draws to its fizzling conclusion through Julia's intrepid efforts, De Rosnay muddies her primary message with too much sentimentality and coincidence with regard to Julia and her self-identity issues. Presented as an American in Paris--she has lived in Paris as a journalist, wife and mother for over ten years and yet she is still an outsider--Julia struggles with Bertrand, a husband she does not trust, her un-French viewpoint that clearly labels her as an American and her own feelings of failure with regard to not being able to conceive another child. When she discovers she is pregnant, her initial confusion gives way to joy until she realizes that her husband is happy with his life as it is--without an additional child. As she experiences a sense of disillusionment for all she has come to rely upon, Julia makes some hard decisions with regard to her future and must "come of age" in terms of who she really is. After discovering so many disturbing events that relate in a rather secondhand way to her extended family, it seems reasonable that Julia will indeed feel the effects of post traumatic stress in some degree. However, De Rosnay almost belittles the sadness of having her characters "move on" by throwing in the unsuspecting William as a romantic interest at the end of the novel. The two are drawn together by their knowledge and their participation in the denouement of Sarah's story. However, their entanglement seems contrived, unnecessary and uncomfortable in light of the more important "don't forget" Holocaust message. Technically, the book works well from the perspective of its alternating voices. Sarah's story is told in a third person narrative that strongly suggests the pain of a young child who separated from her beloved parents can only think of the devastating wrong she imposed upon her small brother. Julia's more contemporary first person account underlines the "sins of the father" theme of history penetrating modern life with its lessons in passivity and apathy. I listened to the unabridged audio presentation; the reader adequately captures the emotion and abject melancholy of the piece while still maintaining the listeners attention. Bottom line? "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana De Rosnay is a worthwhile Holocaust remembrance piece set in the France of 1942 and 2002. A young girl who may have escaped the death camps cannot move past the sorrow of an event for which she takes full responsibility. In 2002, a forty-year-old journalist researching the 1942 Vel D'Hiv roundup of Jews by the French authorities discovers a family connection that spirals her married life to an unhappy conclusion. As the mystery of Sarah's key is solved within the first two thirds of the novel, the technical addition of Sarah's voice is abandoned, replaced only by romantic contrivances by De Rosnay that attempt to pull the threads of the story together to create a happy ending. Recommended with reserve because of the rather hurried and flat conculsion. Diana Faillace Von Behren "reneofc"

I thought I knew pretty much about WW2 being that my husband and I both have a passion for learning about this time in history. I was shocked learning about the roundup in France. Shocking not only that it was the French police carrying out orders from the Nazi regime but that they took it even further and rounded up many more children than what was ordered from above. I cannot even write about this story from an unemotional standpoint because of the true events it explores and because it is all so horrific. To point out a few literary standouts, the first I noticed was the parallel between Sarah's and Julia's personality. They both were being discriminated against. Sarah because she was a Jew and Julia because she was an American. Sarah was alway's asking what is wrong with being a Jew? Why were Jews treated so differently? Could you spot a Jew by their looks? Where they really that different? Julia was constantly the butt of her husband's "American" jokes. People made quick judgements of her because she was an American. Her French friends spoke to her in English even though she had lived in France for most of her life. People made comments to her saying "You must be an American" in a derogitory tone. However Sarah was much braver than Julia. Sarah hated that her mother was so afraid the first night the French police came. She wanted her mother to stand up and be strong. Sarah carried that strong personality with her throughout the book, which helped in many ways. But in the end, it was too hard for Sarah to be brave. Julia on the other hand doesn't stand tall and defend herself when she is the butt of the American jokes. She holds it all inside until she comes to a breaking point and has to decide who she really is. The author also spends quite a bit of time describing her French characters using stereotypical information about the French. Hold everything in, keep it together, the coldness of the culture, etc... These stereotypes I think are used to help with the story that the French didn't want to unbury the past. They didn't want to remember. These characterizations added to the absolute horror that these people could forget that day in history or even worse that they just didn't want to talk about it or admit it was their police force. I pretty much read this book straight through. I was so caught up in Julia's search that I just couldn't put the book down. This is probably one of the best books I have read all year. It taught me things I never even knew about, it gave me a several different perspectives of one period in time, and the writing was beautiful. I know I will Remember and Never Forget Sarah's Key.

I have read a lot of books in my time, but I this has certainly been one of the most touching stories that I have read. This is a book that grabs at your heart and won't let go. It gives you valuable insight into what people who were involved in the Jewish roundup during WWII went through, from a unique "firshand" perspective. This book is a work of fiction, but is based upon historical facts and gives a vivid description of the time period and the Vel' d'Hiv roundup. July 1942 marked a dark period in the history of France where thousands of Jewish families were rounded up and kept in the Velodrome d'Hiver for days with little to no food, no toilet facilities, no medical facilities, and horrible conditions. They were then sent off to transit camps in France such as Drancy, before being packed off to Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp. What is so unnerving about this whole incident is that the rounding up and mobilisation of Jews for deportation was done by the French authorities, a fact that is known by very few. This book centers on two different character's, Julia and Sarah's, perspectives. Sarah is a young girl who was captured in the roundup and after leaving her little brother behind desperately tries to return to save him. Julia is a novelist who lives in Paris who discovers that Sarah and her family lived in an apartment that her family owns and sets out to discover Sarah's story. In the process she discovers that delving into the past can change not only your entire life, but the lives of others as well. This focuses on Julia's search for the truth, and for happiness in life. Sarah's Key is a book that certainly makes you realize how lucky so many of us are. It gives you a very emotional, first-hand perspective into that time in history and makes you feel as if you are actually there. This is a very poignant and touching story that is most certainly worth a read. I personally would recommend it to anyone, especially those who have any interest in World War II and the Holocaust.

If you want an easy light read for the beach, this is not the book. Although this book is a page turner, it is an emotional whirlwind. You will not want to put it down. It begins with very short chapters taking you from the past to the present. The past is about a young ten year old girl named Sarah Starzynski. Sarah and her family are taken from their home in Paris during July 1942, which, I don't believe is a well-known part of history. At least until I read it, I had no idea about the Vel d'Hiv. During WWII, the French police gathered Jewish families and placed them in a holding area, the Velodrome d'Hiver, until they were then taken to camps, and ultimately most to their deaths. The whole affair is gruesome, but one of the most upsetting parts for me was that they were taken by their own people, not the Nazis. Before Sarah and her family are taken, she hides her four year old brother, Michel, in their secret hiding place in the cupboard, for which she has the key. She assures him that she will be back and he will be safe in there. I was so caught up in Sarah's story that I did not want to switch back to the present. But once I was there I was pulled into Julia's life too. Julia Jarmond is an American that is married to Bertrand, a French architect and is a journalist for an American magazine in Paris. They have one child, eleven year old Zoe. Julia is married to a typical arrogant Frenchman whose family appears cold and distant, except for Mame', her husband's grandmother. Later in the story, Julia and her father-in-law, Edouard develop a closer bond as they share an emotional secret that has been kept hidden since July of 1942. There are many secrets and unlikely connections exposed with each turn of the page. In the beginning Sarah's story is told in chapters from the past, then later on Sarah's story is told from what Julia discovers as she obsessively investigates Sarah's life via the history of the Vel d'Hiv and every unsettling thing associated with it. After the first mystery about Sarah's little brother, Michel, is revealed, the rest of the book is rather anti-climactic. Even with that, I was not able to put the book down. The rest of the story still has further mysteries to be solved. I was not completely satisfied with the ending. It is left open-ended, although I know how I would have liked it to end. But I suppose that was the whole point.

This is the second of Tatiana de Rosnay's novels that I have read, and like the previous one La Mémoire des murs it revolves around a mystery associated with a Parisian apartment. In this case, the Marais apartment once occupied by ten-year-old Sarah and her family until they are rounded up in an infamous "rafle" of Parisian Jews in July 1942 is about to become home to American-born Julia Jaramond. The property, which has long been the property of her French husband's family, is now vacant, and will be refurbished. Julia, however, in the process of researching a story about the 60th anniversary of the "Vel d'Hiv" roundup, discovers that some of those deportees - who ended up at Auschwitz - had been the previous occupants. But there is no mention of the fate of their young daughter, Sarah... Thus begins Julia's quest to discover what happened to Sarah, amidst indifference or hostility from many members of her husband's family - reactions that aren't too dissimilar from those of French society as a whole, which prefers to think of the `rafle' as something orchestrated by the Nazis (although it was carried out entirely by French police). The first half of the book is told in short chapters that alternate between the voice of the young Sarah and that of Julia; eventually, the only voice is that of Julia, as she intensifies her search for Sarah's fate. Some of de Rosnay's plot twists are predictable, especially toward the end of the book when all the loose ends are neatly wrapped up and a bow placed atop their heads in a beautiful but too-tidy package. It's a little too convenient, for instance, that Julia's child happens to be a girl now almost exactly the age that Sarah was in 1942, for instance. (There is a particularly egregious twist or two toward the end, which I won't disclose as they would be spoilers.) Other plot twists are expected - the fate of Sarah's brother, for instance - and anything else would have been dramatic but implausible, as de Rosnay is astute enough to recognize. She avoids other twists that would have been far too blatant - every time I thought to myself, "oh, I know what is coming next", I didn't; the turn was a surprise, although never a shock. The result is a solid if unspectacular narrative, told by a novelist with a great eye for character, dialogue and sense of place. On the Virginia Woolf-to-Sophie Kinsella continuum, this definitely ranks toward the Kinsella end of the spectrum - it's far from unique or literary in either theme or structure - but it's a pageturner with a lot of meat on its bones and some very good writing. Another "thumping good read", if it's OK to say that about a novel that revolves around a tragic event. While the book is a natural fit for anyone interested in the French experience of the Holocaust (and how they have dealt with the legacy), and would be a great book club read, anyone who is looking for an undemanding but dramatic read based on some strong characters would find it worthwhile. I gather they are making a movie based on the book in France; it would be interesting to see Kristin Scott Thomas (who speaks impeccable French and can put together a mean American accent when required) in the title role, even though she doesn't physically resemble Julia's character. (Hopefully they won't make the same casting errors as they did with the film of Diane Johnson's Le Divorce.) Which reminds me - anyone curious about what it's like to live as a long-term expat or an American in Paris who doesn't want to tackle Wharton or Henry James, and who likes this book, should try Diane Johnson's three novels ( Le Divorce (William Abrahams Book) , Le Mariage , L'Affaire ). They are more dramatic novels of manners in nature, whereas de Rosnay's is a serious drama, but they do a beautiful job of explaining what happens when Americans try to coexist with the French in Paris. (The film was a very bad version of a not-at-all-bad book.) Hopefully we will now see some of de Rosnay's other work appear in English??

I have always loved learning about the Holocaust. When my mom told me about a Holocaust drama, I had to read it. Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay is the perfect World War II drama with an amazing twist. Along with that, the book has an amazing twist. It will keep you intrigues for days. There have been many books written about the Holocaust, but this one is like no other book. It is unique in its own way. Sarah's Key is about a round up of Jewish men and women in the 1940's. It is fictional, but based on historic events. The story goes back and forth between a 10 year old girl living through the Holocaust and a modern day journalist living researching the round up in Paris, France. The author explains how people try to hide historic events because they are so horrific. The thesis of this story would be that just because you try to hide horrific events, it doesn't mean they disappear. July 1942 was a hard time in the history of France. Thousands of Jewish families were round up and had to stay in the Velodrome d'Hiver. They were then sent off to transit camps in France such as Drancy, before being packed off to Auschwitz, a nazi death camp. What is so frightening about this whole incident is that the rounding up and recruitment of Jews for deportation was done by the French authorities. The story goes back and forth between the point of view of 10 year old Sarah and modern day journalist Julia. The genre of this book is historical fiction, and it is aimed at either young adult readers. The parts of World War II you kind of have to understand and enjoy this book. The book kind of uncovers the horrific things Paris had to go through during the roundup. Overall I thin the book was very well written. Once you get used to the alternating roles you really understand the story a lot better. The book was definitely not like any other book. It didn't really seem too cliche to me. There are a lot of books out there that have been written about WWII and this one has its own twist. This is the first book that I read that switch characters in it. Also most of the Holocaust books have been written about Germany or Denmark. This one was about Paris. For the audience it is going for, it gets the job done. My favorite part of the book is how everything is tied together between the two roles it switches between. It just adds a nice touch to this really good story.

It’s a real eye opener of some of the horrible things Jews went through in WW2.

This book kept me going from chapter to chapter. I loved how the chapters weren’t too long, so that the mixing between present day and the past kept me wanting to read on. Great story on an event I naively had no idea had happened!

I'd already watched the film so was prepared for the horror of Vel d'Hiv - a truly shameful part of France's history in WW2 which was hushed up until Chirac exposed France's role many years later. The war-time story alternating and linking up with the modern-day story-line has the reader gripped from beginning to end. This is a 5-star book.

Sarah’a Key was a book I couldn’t put down. The style of short chapters and a change in focus from Sarah to Julia made me want to know more at the end of each chapter. Sarah’s story holds so much hope for the good in others yet getting let down often, the character, Sarah, shows so much strength and love. I was thrilled to see Julia gain a backbone within her story, other reviews are disappointed in her side of the story but I enjoyed her growth in herself and making a stand for what she believes in. Another aspect I found interesting was the acknowledgement of past and that it’s difficult to do so. Even through the difficultly of facing our mistakes it is what makes us grow stronger and more connected

I am amazed that this book has so few reviews because it was really a joy to read. It is a very moving story about the French Deportations during the Second World War, but at the same time is a story of a family in Paris in 2002. At first the Author tells the two stories seperately in alternating Chapters, until the two stories entwine and then is told from one point of view. Sad, and moving, the story grips you so that you just can't put it down and although we know all the horrors and abominations of that era, the Author doesn't dwell long on them,but still portrays the seriousness in a light, melancholic way. A story that you can't put down, and stays in your mind long after it is finished.

A very moving and sometimes disturbing story but an important reminder of the atrocities of war. Could not put it down