Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, set in past and present day Paris, is one of the most emotional books I have ever picked up.
There are two central characters in this book.
The first is an unknown little girl that is awoken by the police during the middle of the night on July 16, 1942. Her father is hidden. Her brother is scared. Her mother knows what is coming next. They are told to pack a few sets of clothes and return to the living area. The girl's brother hides in their "secret hiding place" and the girl, not knowing what is about to happen to her family, locks him into the area and pockets the key. She is protecting him. She is hiding him from the police. The police go through the house, looking for the boy, looking for the father, but are satisfied when they do not find them. Upon walking out into the street, her mother yells for her father, who comes out of hiding. The three walk, hand in hand, with the officers. They are taken to the Vel d'Hiv. They are held with the other Jewish families of Paris. The girl can do nothing but think of her brother, think of escaping, think of getting back to him.
The second protagonist is Julia Jarmond. Julia, an American living in Paris, is introduced to the reader as she is deciding how to renovate her family's new apartment, the apartment that her husband's grandmother had lived in since 1942. Julia is tasked with writing an article about the 1942 Vel d'Hiv roundup. Julia begins digging into the past, finding witnesses and survivors of the Nazi reign. Julia also finds the family who lived in their apartment before Mame. Julia begins searching for people who knew the family, not knowing that she was closer than she thought.
The story of the ten year old girl and the research of the middle aged woman may be sixty years apart, but they are more intertwined than Julia can believe.
Sarah's Key has everything that you could want. There's emotional and historical heartbreak, there's happiness, there's love, all packed into these 293 pages. There's no problem getting into the book, as it's gripping and keeps you wanting to know what happens next.
This book is highly recommended.
