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Tatiana de Rosnay

Sarah's Key Kindle Edition

by Tatiana de Rosnay (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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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.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

Length: 305 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is a remarkable historical novel, a book which brings to light a disturbing and deliberately hidden aspect of French behavior towards Jews during World War II. Like Sophie's Choice, it's a book that impresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever.”
–Naomi Ragen, author of The Saturday Wife and The Covenant

“Sarah's Key unlocks the star crossed, heart thumping story of an American journalist in Paris and the 60-year-old secret that could destroy her marriage. This book will stay on your mind long after it's back on the shelf.”
–Risa Miller, author of Welcome to Heavenly Heights

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself. Already translated into 15 languages, the novel is De Rosnay's 10th (but her first written in English, her first language). It beautifully conveys Julia's conflicting loyalties, and makes Sarah's trials so riveting, her innocence so absorbing, that the book is hard to put down. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

Paris, July 1942

The girl was the first to hear the loud pounding on the door. Her room was closest to the entrance of the apartment. At first, dazed with sleep, she thought it was her father, coming up from his hiding place in the cellar. He’d forgotten his keys, and was impatient because nobody had heard his first, timid knock. But then came the voices, strong and brutal in the silence of the night. Nothing to do with her father. “Police! Open up! Now!”

The pounding took up again, louder. It echoed to the marrow of her bones. Her younger brother, asleep in the next bed, stirred. “Police! Open up! Open up!” What time was it? She peered through the curtains. It was still dark outside.

She was afraid. She remembered the recent, hushed conversations she had overheard, late at night, when her parents thought she was asleep. She had crept up to the living room door and she had listened and watched from a little crack through the panel. Her father’s nervous voice. Her mother’s anxious face. They spoke their native tongue, which the girl understood, although she was not as fluent as them. Her father had whispered that times ahead would be difficult. That they would have to be brave and very careful. He pronounced strange, unknown words: “camps,” “roundup, a big roundup,” “early morning arrests,” and the girl wondered what all of it meant. Her father had murmured that only the men were in danger, not the women, not the children, and that he would hide in the cellar every night.

He had explained to the girl in the morning that it would be safer if he slept downstairs, for a little while. Till “things got safe.” What “things,” exactly? thought the girl. What was “safe”? When would things be “safe” again? She wanted to find out what he had meant by “camp” and “roundup,” but she worried about admitting she had eavesdropped on her parents, several times. So she had not dared ask him.

“Open up! Police!”

Had the police found Papa in the cellar, she asked herself. Was that why they were here, had the police come to take Papa to the places he had mentioned during those hushed midnight talks: the “camps,” far away, out of the city?

The girl padded fast on silent feet to her mother’s room, down the corridor. Her mother awoke the minute she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s the police, Maman,” the girl whispered. “They’re banging on the door.”

Her mother swept her legs from under the sheets, brushed her hair out of her eyes. The girl thought she looked tired, old, much older than her thirty years.

“Have they come to take Papa away?” pleaded the girl, her hands on her mother’s arms. “Have they come for him?”

The mother did not answer. Again the loud voices down the hallway. The mother swiftly put a dressing gown over her night dress, then took the girl by the hand and went to the door. Her hand was hot and clammy, like a child’s, the girl thought.

“Yes?” the mother said timidly, without opening the latch.

A man’s voice. He shouted her name.

“Yes, Monsieur, that is me,” she answered. Her accent came out strong, almost harsh.

“Open up. Immediately. Police.”

The mother put a hand to her throat and the girl noticed how pale she was. She seemed drained, frozen. As if she could no longer move. The girl had never seen such fear on her mother’s face. She felt her mouth go dry with anguish.

The men banged again. The mother opened the door with clumsy, trembling fingers. The girl winced, expecting to see green-gray suits.

Two men stood there. One was a policeman, wearing his dark blue knee-length cape and a high, round cap. The other man wore a beige raincoat. He had a list in his hand. Once again, he said the woman’s name. And the father’s name. He spoke perfect French. Then we are safe, thought the girl. If they are French, and not German, we are not in danger. If they are French, they will not harm us.

The mother pulled her daughter close to her. The girl could feel the woman’s heart beating through her dressing gown. She wanted to push her mother away. She wanted her mother to stand up straight and look at the men boldly, to stop cowering, to prevent her heart from beating like that, like a frightened animal’s. She wanted her mother to be brave.

“My husband is . . . not here,” stuttered the mother. “I don’t know where he is. I don’t know.”

The man with the beige raincoat shoved his way into the apartment.

“Hurry up, Madame. You have ten minutes. Pack some clothes. Enough for a couple of days.”

The mother did not move. She stared at the policeman. He was standing on the landing, his back to the door. He seemed indifferent, bored. She put a hand on his navy sleeve.

“Monsieur, please–,” she began.

The policeman turned, brushing her hand away. A hard, blank expression in his eyes.

“You heard me. You are coming with us. Your daughter, too. Just do as you are told.”

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From AudioFile

In July 1942, Paris police rounded up thousands of Jewish families, eventually sending them to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Told in flashback, this event alternates and overlaps with the story of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist writing an article for the sixtieth anniversary of this dark, almost-forgotten chapter in French history. Polly Stone's delivery of Sarah's story is riveting with its spare emotional power. When Stone becomes Julia, she's less successful; however, this weakness is not her fault as Julia's part of the story is predictable and detracts from the power of Sarah's story. The story broadcasts well in advance hidden connections between Sarah and Julia, leaving no surprises, just disappointment that Julia's less-compelling story overpowers Sarah's tale. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

TATIANA DE ROSNAY is the author of ten novels, including the New York Times bestselling novel A Secret Kept. Sarah's Key is an international sensation with over five million copies sold in thirty-eight countries worldwide. It has been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years, and has now been made into a major motion picture. Together with Dan Brown and Stieg Larsson, Tatiana was named one of the top three fiction writers in Europe in 2010. She lives with her husband and two children in Paris, where she is at work on her next novel. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“A shocking, profoundly moving, and morally challenging story…nothing short of miraculous. It will haunt you, it will help to complete you…”—Augusten Burroughs, New York Times bestselling author of Wolf at the Table and Running with Scissors

“It will make you cry--and remember.” –Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us

“This is a remarkable historical novel. Like Sophie's Choice, it's a book that impresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever.” –Naomi Ragen, author of The Tenth Song

“Sarah’s Key unlocks a star-crossed, heart-thumping story… This book will stay on your mind long after it's back on the shelf.” – Risa Miller, author of Welcome to Heavenly Heights

“Rich in mystery, intrigue and suspense, Sarah’s Key made me wonder and weep.” –The Roanoke Times

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

File Size : 1899 KB
Print Length : 305 pages
Publication Date : June 12, 2007
Word Wise : Enabled
ASIN : B001HNE3NO
Publisher : St. Martin's Press; Reissue Edition (June 12, 2007)
Language: : English
Enhanced Typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #28,630 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #56 in Jewish Literature (Kindle Store)
- #82 in Jewish Historical Fiction
- #92 in Jewish Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3,702 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		74%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Amanda

I loved push and pull of emotions as I read on ...

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2017

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Sarah’s Key, written by Tatiana de Rosnay, switches back and forth between the lives of two people. One chapter is written to talk about Sarah, a young French girl, and her emotions, development, and grief during the time of the Vel d’Hiv round-up in July of 1942. The next chapter switches to the life of Julia, an American living in France as a journalist. The two stories become intertwined when Julia is asked to write about the Vel d’Hiv. She researches the dark event and comes across Sarah’s story, which fascinates her.
Sarah’s Key is a heart- wrenching story that brings light and awareness to the tragic events of the holocaust. The way the author wrote from the perspective of Sarah made me feel as if I was there, witnessing the pain and horror that the women and children had to face. I loved push and pull of emotions as I read on into the book, but I wish it focused more on Sarah’s story, and not as much on the life of Julia.
In conclusion, Sarah’s Key is an emotional book that will make you want to just keep reading. This book is a blend of fiction and histoy, and is a great way to learn more about the events that occurred in Paris in 1942. It is memorable and will keep you thinking even after you finish the book. I would definitely recommend this book, it was a great read!

38 people found this helpful

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D. BookHugger

An emotional read and hard to put down for anyone with a heart.

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2017

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Sarah's Key describes the roundup of the Jews of Paris in 1942 at the orders of the occupying Nazis. Many French citizens did what they could to help the victims, while others cooperated in the roundup. Whole families were taken away by regular French police and transported by ordinary city buses. They were held in camps in France before being transported to their deaths at Auschwitz.

A present day female journalist becomes obsessed with a girl from this time when she discovers a tragic connection to her own life. The past and the present begin as two stories and merge into one.

This book is one part riveting history, one part page-turner, and one part tear-jerker. I gave it four stars instead of five because the last part of the book turns the focus onto the personal problems of the journalist and becomes a sort of rambling soap opera, which some may enjoy and others may not.

However, I would recommend this book for its portrayal of history, its swift pace, and its many twists and turns.

16 people found this helpful

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British5

Lacks Depth

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2019

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This book's treatment of an important era in history--not to mention French involvement in the Holocaust--was disappointing overall, especially given the fanfare (at least in the way it was presented to me.) The characters seemed superficial and cardboard-like, and the events quite predictable. The author did not seem to be able to create truly authentic characters, most of whom were either 'bad' or 'good' guys with somewhat weak attempts at creating depth. Though she seems genuine in her emotions, the dilemma of the Jewish people in Europe deserves stronger writing.
Ursula Hegi is an author with a European background who has a sympathetic view towards the Jewish people and is able to create authentic characters and a book packed with effective symbols and images. Her book Stones from the River is a much more sophisticated piece of writing and highly recommended.
I appreciated deRosnay's efforts to expose another aspect of the Holocaust in revealing the complicity of the French, although this could be done in either better novel fashion, or simply by writing an essay. It seemed more a book of persuasion than description; the realities of the Holocaust do not require persuasion if portrayed accurately, since the horror of the reality seems more than adequate to show this truth.

8 people found this helpful

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BookLover47

Really 3.5

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018

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It is a sad, moving story . The part that is set in 1942 is moving and depressing . The part set in 2002 is really mostly unnecessary . It is yet another book that switches back-and-forth between two time periods in order to have the later time period tell the story of the former . In the miracle story in that later time period is simply annoying . So if it had been much more about 1942 and much less about 2002 the rating would have been much higher.

13 people found this helpful

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Nanjio

Poignant and Heartbreaking

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2018

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I've read several compelling novels set during the WWII Holocaust, but this one moved me more than most. It is a story about a little-known event in which the French police gathered up Jewish families on one terrifying night to turn them over to the Gestapo. It was written from an unusual point of view- that of a modern-day journalist researching the event as a landmark anniversary approaches. While doing the research, she happens to learn of an incredibly sad story involving a young Jewish girl and her family who were rounded up during this incident. She uncovers an amazing connection between that family and her ex-husband's family, and that connection is what makes the story so compelling.

Any novels about this period in history are going to have some similarities, and I felt this one was more tragic than most, but also more uplifting in the end.

7 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

SARAH'S KEY IS BEYOND OUTSTANDING!!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2017

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I have read several accounts of how the Jewish people in and around Paris were rounded up and sent to be exterminated, but the details of how they were arrested and locked in that large stadium by the French police, for heaven sakes, was beyond my comprehension. The author has the gift of describing people, places, and the deep emotions that humans endure in the worst of times that bring out the VERY worst sociopathic behavior known to mankind. I actually had chest pain when reading many descriptions. Even so, I enjoyed the ending immensely; it was SOOO refreshing after reading how hearts and minds can/are destroyed. Thank you, Tatiana Dr Rosnay, for your desire to bring us truth and love all in one book! You have a superb talent! May God bless you.

12 people found this helpful

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Denise Hasty

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2017

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At a national conference I overhead two others sitting at our table talking about great books that they had read. I joined in the conversation we started talking about various books in the historical fiction genre that were great reads. I offered the names of a couple of my favorites and Sarah's Key was one of the two that these ladies offered.

This book was simply riveting! Hard to put down. It was everything I was told it would be and more. I've since recommended it to others as well.

7 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Andrea

Powerful but tragic story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2019

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A book that reminds people of the events that took place in Paris of 1942 during WWII which were either not widely known and/or convienently forgotten by the world. This is why this book, in my humble opinion, is such an important one.

In Paris on July 16/17 1942, over 13,000 Jews - men, women and children - were forcibly rounded up by the French police and arrested in Paris and its suburbs. They were detained in appalling and horrifying conditions in the Velodrome d'Hiver aka the Vel' d'Hiv, transported to internment camps, where the children and mothers were separated from each other, and ultimately deported to Auschwitz and other concentration camps where they were murdered. Their 'crime' was simply that they were Jewish.

This historical novel moves between two core characters; Sarah, a ten year old Jewish girl, who assuming she will be back later in the day to set him free, locks her four year old brother into a hidden cupboard before being held and deported, and Julia, a journalist researching for an article about the sixtieth commemoration of Auschwitz's liberation in 2002.

A powerful but tragic story that moves at a fast pace and is very hard to put down. Indeed at one point, whilst sitting on a train, I was so engrossed in reading it, I very nearly missed my stop! My one critiscism and the reason for the four, rather than five star rating is because the last part of the book focuses more on Julia and becomes her story rather than Sarah's. However despite this, it did lead onto a very satisfying ending.

'Zakhor. Al Tichkah translates from Hebrew to mean: Remember. Never forget.' (Tatiana de Rosnay 2008)

8 people found this helpful

Kirsty

Heartbreaking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2016

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Having watched the movie, and studied French collaboration during the Second World War extensively at university, I knew what to expect. Sarah, a young jewish girl who has been shielded by her family, does not understand the horrors that are about to unfold for her and her family in the summer of 1942. Sixty years later, an American journalist living in Paris begins writing a commemoration piece on the Vel d'Hiv round-up (real events that should never - ever - be forgotten) and uncovers a long buried secret that links the Tezac family to the tragedy that struck Sarah's family. This is a novel that I will be recommending to everybody. It is a historic, thought-provoking novel that forces the question: why have so many people forgotten that the French government were complicit in the Holocaust?

9 people found this helpful

Love Reading

Enjoyed first half

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2020

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I'm giving four stars to Sarah's Key as I found it a page turner at first and I did like the way the chapters were alternated between 1942 and the 21st Century. Reading the story this way gave some relief on the horror of what happened to Sarah.
I'm not sure I liked some of the characters and I disliked Julia's husband Bertrand from the beginning. I wasn't surprised when he turned out the way he did.
As I said the first half of the story was excellent, but I was dreadfully disappointed with the second half that concentrated in the 21st Century and was more Julia's troubles and love life. I lost respect for her as she seemed to lose focus and was intent on finding herself a man to stop herself being lonely. I thought her a completely different character from the one at the start of the story. It all got a bit woolly. I feel the discovery of Sarah's brother ended the story for me.
However I had never heard of the atrocity committed in the cycle arena in Paris although I knew the French police and people collaborated with their German occupiers and it was obvious the author had lived in France and had done a great deal of research. It was this that boosted Sarah's Key from three stars to four stars. It will be interesting to read other reviews on this story.

Kee Lady

3.5* Heart breaking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2020

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Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in Paris, is assigned by her editor to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup, a mass arrest of Jews in Paris by the French police in July 1942. Although a resident in Paris for twenty five years, Julia is unaware of the shocking events of July 1942 that led to those arrested being deported to Auschwitz. As her investigation into the roundup continues, Julia discovers the story of Sarah, a young Jewish girl whose story unexpectedly connects to Julia’s French in laws, leading to uncomfortable revelations that have huge consequences for her family and her marriage.

Sarah’s Key flips between the past and present day following the stories of Sarah and Julia respectively. I personally preferred the elements of the book set in the past as Sarah’s story was incredibly moving – I would challenge anyone not to be moved by her determination to save her beloved brother Michel. Although I liked the character of Julia, I didn’t connect with her story in the present. I found it a little predictable and light on substance. Overall though, Sarah’s Key is a heart breaking and harrowing read that shines a light on a shameful event in French history that everyone should know about.

Lal1

Not sure.......

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2018

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Not sure about his book. To begin with I was riveted, loving the story of Sarah and her struggles. But once I had found out what happened to Sarah, and it become the story of Julia, I lost interest completely. Julia has no real personality, her story is dull and rather contrived and I really didn't care about her at all. Which is a bit of a problem since she is, I assume, supposed to be our heroine! It was almost 2 books - the first gripping (and I learned a lot from it) and the second dull and uninteresting and rather formulaic. Shame.

3 people found this helpful