Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay #Bookreview

Title: Sarah's Key
Author: Tatiana De Rosnay
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published Date: June 12th 2007
Genre: Historical Fiction, France
Format: Audiobook


My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Goodreads Summary: 
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.

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. 

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 My Review:

“You get attached to places, you know. Like people, I suppose.”

In the past few years I've really grown to love books that follow two different time periods. In Sarah's Key we follow Sarah from 1942 and Julia from 2002. With this being my second time reading the book I knew the story and was able to look for little things throughout the book that I missed the first time. I noticed so much more about both of their stories and even though I knew what was going to happen, I still hoped for a better outcome.

Sarah's story is the one that always breaks my heart. It's one of a sister trying to protect her sibling and it going so so wrong. Making her families situation that much more difficult for her parents to deal with. Sarah will always feel guilty about it, she will carry that burden forever, even hiding it from her family.

Julia's story being in present day means that most people have forgotten somewhat what happened in the past, infact until the first time I read this book I didn't even know that France had been apart of this. It also shows the lengths people will go to to try and make themselves look better in the face of tragedy when they know they've done something wrong. The connection this story has to her family and how her husband treats the whole thing is sad. Obviously the husband is dealing with some stuff and isn't wanting past things to be brought up and doesn't want to deal with it and how his father will react to it.

Overall I always enjoy reading this book and seeing how things change over time and how history can sometimes be forgotten until a moment brings it back. I love how many people this story connects and how Julia's friends are supportive of her even when her husband isn't.

As for the book to movie part, I enjoyed the movie and it stuck pretty close to the book in my opinion. But it's not one of my favorites for some reason and I can't figure out why.