Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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. 

I, like many people in this book and in real life, had never heard about the events of July 16, 1942 in Paris. We all know a lot of terrible things happened during WWII and this was another horrific event to add to the rest. The thing that makes it even worse is that the French refused to acknowledge their participation in the roundup, and death, of 11,000 Jews, 4,000 of which were children.

There are two parallel stories being told in this book. One is Sarah's. She is only 9 years old in 1942 when the French police come to her family's door to take them to the Velodrome d'Hiver, where they were jam packed together for days in sweltering heat with no food or water, and then off to concentration camps. The other is Julia's, an American journalist living in Paris who is given the job of writing an article for the sixtieth anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv roundup. The chapters go back and forth between the two stories for about half the book and then it is just told from Julia's point of view.

Sarah's story is compelling and heartbreaking. I devoured the pages containing her story. I loved the history lesson in it. I had to know what happened next. Julia's story, on the other hand, was great in the beginning but quickly started feeling contrived. Once we stopped hearing Sarah's side the book became too much like chick-lit instead of the compelling Holocaust book it could have been.

While de Rosnay's writing is great there were several aspects of the book I just couldn't deal with. I couldn't believe Sarah's parents reactions to the big event (I refuse to spoil anything) in the story. I cannot believe, even with being as scared as they obviously had to be, that they would do nothing. I can't. Also, I got tired of hearing about how American Julia was. Oh, and don't get me started on the character of Bertrand.

I think this would have been a much better book if it focused more on Sarah rather than Julia. It was a decent book, though and while it got slightly predictable, I really did love the ending. It's no The Book Thief  but I still recommend reading it even if it's just for the history lesson.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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