Sarah's Key

Item Description

A New York Times bestseller.
 
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.
Tatiana de Rosnay was born in the suburbs of Paris and is of English, French and Russian descent.  She is the author of nine French novels.  She also writes for French Elle, and is a literary critic for Psychologies magazine. Tatiana de Rosnay is married and has two children.  Sarah's Key is her first novel written in her mother tongue, English.
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 a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround the painful episode in that country's history.
"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."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This is the shocking, profoundly moving and morally challenging story . . . It will haunt you, it will help to complete you . . . nothing short of miraculous.”—Augusten Burroughs

“A powerful novel . . . Tatiana de Rosnay has captured the insane world of the Holocaust and the efforts of the few good people who stood up against it in this work of fiction more effectively than has been done in many scholarly studies. It is a book that makes us sensitive to how much evil occurred and also to how much willingness to do good also existed in that world.”—Rabbi Jack Riemer, South Florida Jewish Journal

“Just when you thought you might have read about every horror of the Holocaust, a book will come along and shine a fierce light upon yet another haunting wrong. Sarah's Key is such a novel. In remarkably unsparing, unsentimental prose . . . through a lens so personal and intimate, it will make you cry—and remember.”—Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us

“A remarkable novel written with eloquence and empathy.”—Paula Fox, author of Borrowed Finery

"A story of hearts broken, first by the past, then by family secrets, and the truth that begins to repair the pieces. A beautiful novel."—Linda Francis Lee, bestselling author of The Ex-Debutante

“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

“This is a remarkable historical novel . . . it's a book that impresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever.”—Naomi Ragen, author of The Saturday Wife

“Masterly and compelling, it is not something that readers will quickly forget. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (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."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Product Details

  • Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
  • Publication Date: 2008-09-30
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
  • Product Group: Book
  • Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
  • Binding: Paperback, 320 pages
  • Features:
    • ISBN13: 9780312370848
    • Condition: New
    • Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
  • Package Dimensions:
    • Dimensions: 820L x 540W x 100H
    • Weight: 70
  • List Price: $13.95
  • ISBN: 0312370849
  • ASIN: 0312370849

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Customer Reviews

Average Amazon User Rating: 4.0 stars

5 stars Love this book - Must read...! 2010-09-03

Reviewer: Michelle B.

This is one of those books that you can't wait to see what happens, but you don't want the story to end..... Even though I cried, I loved this story.

5 stars One of finest Holocaust novels 2010-08-19

Reviewer: Charles Heller

Because of my own to-be-published memoir on the subject ("Out of Prague: A Memoir of Survival, Denial, and Triumph"), I try to read any and all books on this subject -- fiction and nonfiction. Some are good, some are fair, others are outstanding. Taking its place at or near the top of the latter group is "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. It is a fictional account of a young girl's separation from her parents, following a real event: the round-up of thousands of French Jews and their children -- not by Germans, but by French police. Ms.de Rosnay teaches us about this shameful and little-known crime by skillfully interweaving two story lines -- those of Sarah, the Jewish girl who holds a terrible secret and Julia, an American journalist, who uncovers the secret. The story is powerful and compelling. At the same time, it is so terrifying that -- on many occasions -- I wanted to stop reading. But, I couldn't. I am grateful to St. Martin's Press, and its Griffin imprint, for publishing one of the finest books in this genre. Go out and buy this book. It will make you cry, but you will never forget it.

5 stars Really liked this book 2010-08-17

Reviewer: Christine

I really liked this story. I cannot attest to the facts, but the story itself was captivating and depressing, all at the same time. A really good read.

5 stars sarah's key 2010-08-14

Reviewer: C. Wells

The condition of the book was excellent ... the story was compelling. It was hard to put down once you got into it. The ending may have been a bit contrived, but I was happy with it

3 stars Tragic story which (somewhat understandably) lacked closure 2010-08-14

Reviewer: Berean Hunger

Set in France during WWII and paralleled in the present, the book follows a journalist as she researches how the French government (and civilians) followed German demands to round up Jews living in Paris to send to death camps. The story is well written, starkly riveting and heartbreaking, especially since it's based on true events. I finished it with a sad ache of emptiness, however. Even though a major theme is the main character's attempts to somehow make restitution, there is little hope or redemption in the story, and I couldn't help thinking that the author needs the hope and peace of Christ to be able to cope with the brutal sinfulness of humanity. Still, we can't forget history, or we're doomed to repeat it, and some stories are just too awful to have a neat sense of closure at the end.