Book Review: *Sarah’s Key* by Tatiana de Rosnay

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Book Blurb:  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.

She Is Too Fond Of Books’ Review:  

On July 16 and 17, 1942, 13152 Jews were arrested in Paris and the suburbs, deported and assassinated at Auschwitz.  In the Velodrome d’Hiver that once stood on this spot, 1,129 men, 2,916 women, and 4,115 children were packed here in inhuman conditions by the government of the Vichy police, by order of the Nazi occupant.  May those who tried to save them be thanked.  Passerby, never forget!

– memorial plaque commemorating the Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv

I appreciate a well-developed plot in a novel, but my favorite works of fiction are those that also incorporate some history - be it cultural, social or military - leaving me with both a sense of satisfaction with the story as well as the sense of having learned something in the process of reading.

Tatiana de Rosnay’s novel Sarah’s Key, beautifully connects these elements.  The two fictional storylines, that of 10-year-old Sarah in 1942 and that of 45-year-old Julia in 2002, could each stand alone, yet they overlap in such a way to form something much greater than the sum of their parts.

We see the events of 1942 unfold through Sarah’s eyes:  who are these men?  where are they going?  when can Sarah and her family go home?  how can she get back to her brother?  The early sections of the novel devoted to Sarah are told by an omniscient narrator, who refers to Sarah distantly as “the girl.”  We are privy to her thoughts and fears, witnesses to her actions and the actions of those around her.  Perhaps it is bearable to read of the destruction of her innocence only by virtue of this distance the narrator provides.  Her world unfolds, unhinges really, in short staccato bursts, lending urgency:

Her own mother stood next to her, frozen.  She could hear the woman breathing in short, sharp gasps.  She held on to her mother’s cold hand.  She felt the policemen wrench them apart, she heard her mother shriek, and then saw her dive back toward her, her dress gaping open, her hair wild, her mouth contorted, screaming her daughter’s name.  She tried to grab her mother’s hands, but the men shoved her aside, sending her to her knees.

Julia’s sections are told in her own voice, yet they are less intense, despite the emotional turmoil she exhibits as she uncovers the details of the Vel’ d’Hiv and its connection to her French husband and his family.  The atrocities of this event and the family’s personal link haunt her; her husband’s apathy causes her to question her relationship with Bertrand and their marriage itself.  As she digs deeper into the mystery, she is cautioned by a friend:

Be careful, Julia … You’re playing with Pandora’s box.  Sometimes, it’s better not to open it.  Sometimes, it’s better not to know.

This is an engaging novel with a skillful blend of narrative fiction and historical events.  I highly recommend this gripping tale.

Tatiana de Rosnay was born near Paris in 1961, and raised in Paris in Boston.  Returning to Paris in 1984, she worked for Christie’s and Vanity Fair while writing her first novel.  She has published nine novels, and works as a journalist and literary critic.  Sarah’s Key is the first novel she wrote in English, her mother tongue; it’s being published in 22 countries, and the film rights have been sold (that will have me on the edge of my seat!). 

Discussion questions and a Q&A with Tatiana de Rosnay can be found at St. Martin’s Press’ Reading Group Gold.

Sarah’s Key is available in paperback TODAY, September 30. Click here to purchase Sarah’s Key from amazon.com. Click here to order from your choice of IndieBound independent bookstores.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a review copy.