Sarah's Key: Summary and book reviews of Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, plus links to an excerpt from Sarah's Key and a biography of 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. 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. Soon to be a major motion picture!

Media Reviews

Sacramento Bee Exceptional, emotional, and compelling…   Publishers Weekly Starred Review. 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.   Library Journal Starred Review. Masterly and compelling, it is not something that readers will quickly forget. Highly recommended.   Sarah Galvin, The Bookstore Plus, Lake Placid, NY Sarah's Key is told from both the perspective of an 10-year-old girl whose family is rounded up during the Vel D'Hiv in France in 1942 and an American who presently lives in Paris. The heartbreak is real, the love is true, and the need to find out how their two lives are connected made this one of my absolute favorites!   Roberta, The Book Stall at Chestnut Court (Front Line, Newsletter) I was overwhelmed by a novel that I had missed when it first came our way - Sarah's Key. It is a page-turner about World War II, the Holocaust and contemporary Paris. I couldn't put it down.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Doris
Sarah's Key Book Review
Sarah’s Key is written about Tatiana de Rosnay. It takes place in Paris, France and deals with the Holocaustand the Vel d’hiv round up in 1942 where the french police captured hundreds of Jews and took them to their deaths. This was a...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Care
Very sad but a must to read
I found this book so terribly sad, it brought tears. I wasn't going to finish it but I am glad I did. Everything should read this so they know what happened to the Jews during Hitler's reign. He was so evil, is surely in Hell. The French were...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Brooke
Sarah's Key
Sarah's Key was very intriguing. I loved it from the very beginning. I highly recommend this book if you are into historical fiction books that are exciting and have a touch of romance in it. I loved it, and I hope that you do to. Do not be afraid...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Melli Reeds
Sarah's Key
This novel drew me in from the beginning. The way de Rosnay intertwined two stories were well done. And the various dramatic situations and circumstances make the readers contemplative and in some ways makes an emotional connection. However, I felt...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Di
Overrated.
This was an extremely disturbing book, and after a few chapters, I could see what was coming and put it away.Though based on a little known historic event, the story is maudlin and doesn't ring "true". When the police are pounding on the...   Read More

Rated of 5 by HP
Sara's Key
I loved the story, although, It was sad and hard to read. Being Jewish myself, it brought tears to my eyes. It was a surprise ending. Everyone should read this book.

...11 More Reader Reviews

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