Sarah’s Key
This book is the U.S. debut novel for author Tatiana de Rosnay. The story revolves around an American woman, Julia, who moves to Paris at age 20 and marries a french man. She is a writer assigned to a story about the alarming role that France played during WWII. Her investigation concerns the 60th anniversary of the “roundups” that took place from the Paris Vélodrome d’Hiver to Auschwitz. Thousands of Jewish families were transported and killed. (The roundups were factual events that took place in France that I did not know about. Many of the people in my book club also had no knowledge of this.) As she continues on this journey of discovery, Julia finds out the horrible role that her own husband’s family played in this massacre. She also discovers the secrets her husband has been concealing.
The title, Sarah’s Key, refers to the most tragic part of the story. As the book alternates between the past and the present, the link that the key has with Julia’s current family and a family in France during WWII is revealed. Three words to describe the book: Astonishing, Heartbreaking and Compelling.
