Sarah's Key

23 October, 2010

Sarah's Key

Title : Sarah's Key

Author : Tatiana De Rosnay

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Language: English

ISBN 10 : 0-312-37084-9

ISBN 13 : 978-0-312-37084-8

Paris, July 1942 : Sarah, a ten year old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard-their secret hiding place-and promise to come back for him as soon as they released.

Sixty Years Later : Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future.

In Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay offers up a mesmerizing story in which a tragic past unfolds, the present is torn apart, and the future is irrevocably altered.

:: Jewish during the roundup ::

Seriously, this is a very challenging story. At one point, I nearly put the book down because the story is gut wrenching. This is not a historical novel but more to contemporary.

Sarah is a story from the past. How can a little girl survive the horror she has to face during the roundup? Maybe it was her determination to save her brother, because she promise she will come back. Miraculously she managed to escape from the camp and began her journey to save her brother. The journey is not a pleasant one, very painful and oh my gosh…I cried because Sarah’s character is so strong. That’s why I nearly put down the book, the truth is I already guess what had happened to her little brother but I don’t have the courage to read about it and how she will react. Even after I finished the book, her character was still haunting me.

Julia is a present story. Working as an American journalist, she investigates about the roundup. During her investigation, she stumbles into her in laws secrets that link to Sarah. Sorry I cannot explain it here because it is very complicated. I guess you have to read the book…

:: Two young boys wearing Jewish badges shortly before the roundup ::

:: Children in the camp ::

I wish the author write more on Sarah rather than Julia. Anyway, I loved the way the chapters were set up. The chapters went back and forth between 1944 and 2004 until the characters finally came together and all questions were answered. And, I wish that the roundup and the holocaust thing is just a fiction. Sadly, it truly happens. It is unthinkable human can do such thing to another human being. This is an amazing story that reminds us that the Holocaust was about the murder of innocent people including little children whose only crime was being born Jewish.