Sarah's Key
From Paris to Auschwitz, one girl's journey to find her brother
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4.5 • 189 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Multi-Million Copy International Bestseller
Released in 2010 as a major motion picture starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sarah's Key is perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and All the Light We Cannot See.
'A remarkable novel. 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
Paris, July 1942. Sarah, a ten-year-old Jewish girl, is arrested by the French police in the middle of the night, along with her mother and father. Desperate to protect her younger brother, she locks him in a cupboard and promises to come back for him as soon as she can.
Paris, May 2002. Julia Jarmond, an American journalist, is asked to write about the 60th anniversary of the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup - the infamous day in 1942 when French police rounded up thousands of Jewish men, women and children, in order to send them to concentration camps.
Sarah's Key is the poignant story of two families, forever linked and haunted by one of the darkest days in France's past. In this emotionally intense, page-turning novel, Tatiana de Rosnay reveals the guilt brought on by long-buried secrets and the damage that the truth can inflict when they finally come unravelled.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the V lodrome 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 T zac, 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 V l' 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.
Customer Reviews
Sarah's Key
Heartbreaking. I knew nothing of this event and while I cried the whole way through, I'm glad that I can now honor their memory.
Sarah's Key
A touching, historically sound account of tragedy, love and overcoming adversity. Sarah's story was heart wrenching, but Julia's inevitable bond with her, more than 60 years later in another time, is explored in a sensitive and intriguing manner. Julia's own battles with love and life, complement her discoveries sadly, but beautifully at the same time. Of course, the Parisian backdrop added that gentle mix of romanticism and arrogance as well! A very enjoyable read, thank you.
Sarah's Key
What a emotional heart renchin powerful book. Love it. Thank you to the author.