Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (2007)

Reader's Annotation

An American journalist becomes obsessed with the sixty-year-old secret of her family's Paris apartment.

Summary

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. (from WorldCat)

Evaluation

I enjoyed the two parallel narrative threads of this novel and the way each reflected and complemented the other. The author made it easy to tell the two narratives apart by using third person for the 1942 thread and first person for the 2002 thread. In addition, the two narrative threads were presented in different typefaces. In contrast to the complex narrative structure, the prose of the individual threads was simple and straight-forward with a lot of dialog. This novel should appeal to those who enjoy a story of realistic people and events with strong emotional content. People who like this novel should try The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Genres: Historical
Subgenres: