Book review: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

I have to admit that the cover of the book caught my eye, and not because of the two young children running in the foreground, but because it looked like Italy or France.

I opened the book at the rack and couldn't put it down. It opened in Paris, July 1942. "The girl was the first to hear the loud pounding on the door. Her room was closest to the entrance of the apartment. At first, dazed with sleep, she thought it was her father, coming up rom his hiding place in the cellar. He'd forgotten his keys, and was impatient because nopbody had heard his first, timid knock. But then came the voices, strong and brutal in the silence of the night. Nothing to do with her father. "Police! Open up! Now!"

From that moment on, I was hooked. Sarah and her parents were taken from their home in the middle of the night by the French police during the Vel' d' Hiv' round-up in WWII. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard (their secret hiding place) and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

The book bounces from Sarah's story to that of present-day Julia, an American journalist living in Paris, who is investigating the round-up. During her research, she realizes her husband's family has a link to Sarah...

It's amazing how the two stories intertwine! I could NOT put down this book! Because of my interest in WWII, I found myself looking forward to Sarah's story more than that of Julia's. However, in Julia's story, one found out more about Sarah as well. Toward the middle of the book I wanted more of BOTH stories.

Before this book, I'd never heard of Vel' d' Hiv'. The French didn't speak of it until 1995 when newly appointed "President Jacques Chirac officially acknowledged France's complicity in the murder and deportation of the Jews of Europe." (2001 Kamis, Toni L., The Complete Jewish Guide to France)

Sarah's Key is historical fiction at its best. Plausible. Realistic. I laughed. I cried. This book is incredible!!