Short description
Haunting and suspenseful, life-affirming and beautiful, Sarah's Key offers a compelling portrait of occupied Paris and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this little-known episode in French history.
Long description
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.
Review
This is the shocking, profoundly moving and morally challenging story... It will haunt you, it will help to complete you... nothing short of miraculous. -Augusten Burroughs Just when you thought you might have read about every horror of the Holocaust, a book will come along and shine a fierce light upon yet another haunting wrong. SARAH'S KEY is such a novel. In remarkably unsparing, unsentimental prose... through a lens so personal and intimate, it will make you cry--and remember. -Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us Masterly and compelling, it is not something that readers will quickly forget. Highly recommended. -Library Journal, Starred Review A powerful novel... Tatiana de Rosnay has captured the insane world of the Holocaust and the efforts of the few good people who stood up against it in this work of fiction more effectively than has been done in many scholarly studies. It is a book that makes us sensitive to how much evil occurred and also to how much willingness to do good also existed in that world. --Rabbi Jack Riemer, South Florida Jewish Journal A remarkable novel written with eloquence and empathy. -Paula Fox, author of Borrowed Finery A story of hearts broken, first by the past, then by family secrets, and the truth that begins to repair the pieces. A beautiful novel. -Linda Francis Lee, bestselling author of The Ex-Debutante SARAH'S KEY unlocks the star crossed, heart thumping story of an American journalist in Paris and the 60-year-old secret that could destroy her marriage. This book will stay on your mind long after it's back on the shelf. -Risa Miller, author of Welcome to Heavenly Heights This is a remarkable historical novel... it's a book thatimpresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever. -Naomi Ragen, author of The Saturday Wife