Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A story told in the present and in 1942; the unifying element is an apartment in Paris. In 1942 the French police, directed by the Nazis, rounded up the Jews from this apartment and from others and sent them to camps. In the present an architect is remodeling the apartment for his wife and daughter. His wife unearths a secret in the apartment that changes their lives.

As the story unfolds, there are no surprises, yet it is not a predictable story. The story does show the cruelty and horror of that period of history and its reverberation into present times. In 1942, Sarah is taken with her family to the Veledrome d'Hiver with thousands of other Jews and hides her brother in a closet expecting to return for him later in the day. Her story of deportation and escape are uncovered in 2002 by Julia who is unexpectedly pregnant at the age of 45. Both stories are expertly interwoven in different voices.

The writing takes the reader in; the message is exposed-we must never forget.


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