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Sarah’s Key

Tatiana de Rosnay
St. Martin’s Griffin (2008)
ISBN 9780312370848
Reviewed by Kam Aures for Rebecca's Reads (06/09)


It has been a long time since I have read a work of fiction as powerful and moving as “Sarah’s Key”  by Tatina de Rosnay. Although the characters in the book are fictitious, many of the actual events, most particularly the Velodrome d’Hiver (Vel’ d’ Hiv’) roundup, are all too true.  Before this book I had never heard of this particular Holocaust tragedy in France and found it to be deeply disturbing.  Basically what happened in Paris was that on the morning of July 16, 1942, the French police rounded up all of the Jewish men, women, and children and put them in the Vel’ d’ Hiv indoor stadium without bathrooms, minimal food, and nowhere to sleep.  Then they were taken to camps.

This novel, “Sarah’s Key,” neatly intertwines this historical time with a modern day story.  The writing is told from Sarah’s perspective in the past to Julia’s perspective in the present in alternating chapters.  I enjoyed the format of the book and found that everything came together neatly.

Tatiana de Rosnay is a very talented author whose writing allows you to vividly picture the events taking place.  There are two images that continue to remain in my mind after I finished the book.  The first one is right from the beginning of the book when the girl, her father, and her mother are taken by the French police.  She locks her four-year-old brother in their secret cupboard and pockets the key telling him that she will be back to save him.  The image of that poor four-year-old (the same age as my son) hiding in there trusting and anticipating that his sister will be back for him is heartbreaking.  The other haunting image is the one at the camp when all of the parents were sent off to different camps and the children were left to fend for themselves.  Toddlers were separated from their mothers and left on their own.  The fear that these children must have felt is emotionally overwhelming.

“Sarah’s Key” is a gripping story that you will not be able to put down once you have started reading.  The horrors detailed in de Rosnay’s writing are extremely sad and the book is definitely not a light read.  Be prepared emotionally before you pick up this book because the harrowing images will become engrained in your mind. 

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