Sarah's Key

A Novel

By: Tatiana de Rosnay

Narrated by: Polly Stone

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's 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.

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.

©2007 Tatiana de Rosnay (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Polly Stone's delivery of Sarah's story is riveting with its spare emotional power.” —AudioFile Magazine

“This is a remarkable historical novel, a book which brings to light a disturbing and deliberately hidden aspect of French behavior towards Jews during World War II. 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 and The Covenant

“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

Haunting and Heartrending

Beautiful, poignant and often poetic, the story of Sarah, a heroic, tragic child living in a time of horror left me breathless. At the same time, the novel portrays a believable, smart and quirky contemporary protagonist who is strong and honest. I enjoyed this novel immensely. The reader does a superb job with each voice. I especially enjoyed her rendition of the contemporary protagonist, and I had not expected that at all. Well worth the time and energy. Thanks you.

This is a great read-don't understand naysayers

This is a wonderful story. Admittedly it's a bit slow getting started. And the cutting from the present to the past and back again takes getting use to; however, it is an excellent way of telling the story. Both stories are told in tandum and are wrapped up in a most satisfying way. It reminded me of a geneological search.

The book is well worth the time to read. I think those that do take the time will be very glad they did. Polly Stone, the narrator, does an outstanding job. Her accents are on point and she gives each character their own recognizable voice.

Great Listen !

I loved this book! Couldn't stop listening until I heard the whole story. Good job! Will definitely listen to it again. Hope to see other books on audible by this author.

Split Down The Middle

I first read this book in 2010 and I loved it! I think I even labelled it a favourite. It’s lingered in my memory for so long, I decided to pick it up again…. and I fell out of love.

My opinion this time is split right down the middle.

The storyline around Sarah was great. Still loved it. I also appreciated from the first time I read this book learning all about the Vel D’hiv Round-Up in Paris in 1942 and thanks to this book I tracked down the memorial in Paris to take pictures of it.

The rest of the book? Fail.

Because it was a re-read and I knew where the story was going and how it would end, I was less distracted by Sarah’s fascinating story and that left me able to pick apart the secondary storylines.

I did not really care for any of the characters and I found their relationships never felt real. It was all too forced and contrived, more like caricatures and less like real people. Julia’s attraction to William toward the end of the book was the least believable of all and I was never sure where it was going! Was it a burgeoning romance? Julia spoke of feeling soooooo at ease with him for some strange inexplicable reason, and their last conversation was filled with “I should have never gone there alone” and “I needed you with me” lines… If they were supposed to have had this amazing chemistry that kept them in each other’s minds for years, the author did a poor job of conveying that sensation.

I also wondered about the point of Julia’s baby storyline. It added nothing to the core story other than to provide a reason for divorcing her husband and give us a saccharine eye-rolly moment when we discover that she named the child Sarah. Who did not see that coming a mile away?

Regarding all her in-laws, I did not understand their motivations at all. “Don’t dig up the past, it’s too difficult, it’s too painful”… well… maybe if they were directly responsible for the events in the past but they were not - they were bystanders! At one point, Julia’s husband gets furious with her because of her investigation into the past, but based on what? He was not in on “the secret that needed to stay buried”, so why get irate about it being uncovered?

This leads me to my biggest complaint: Why is this even a secret? The events themselves were tragic enough and slowly discovering what happened to Sarah’s brother was very compelling. Why turn it into a secret on top of that? It’s as if the author wanted to increase the mystery by turning it all into something that needed to stay hushed up… but that was odd to me. Like for example, when we discover Julia’s father-in law had sent money to help Sarah on the condition it would be anonymous. Why? I think that was the weirdest part of all. Making up secrets just to have them.

Aside from the characters, another thing I didn’t like about the writing is that I sometimes felt like I was reading a map. “I took bus 62 to street X, then walked 3 block over to there…” It might have been fun for the author to insert navigation directions but it did not remind me of exploring Paris at all and I have been 4 times!

Regarding the narration, my hugest pet peeve was alive and well: how all Parisians sound like Inspector Clouseau. Ok, in all fairness this narrator was not THAT bad, but it always makes me wonder why bother with an accent at all. More often than not, it's more distracting than good.

(William's voice was terrible)

Amazing story!

This was crrrazy good, and the narration was PERFECT!

I was skeptical in the beginning. I am not sure why I was skeptical. I read many books about Holocaust when I was young, and I heard many stories.. I think I was afraid to read another book, which would remind me about the cruel nature of all of us. I like to think that humankind is basically good no matter what, but then I remember Holocaust, genocide, etc., and I sometimes have my doubts.

It was interesting to learn about the French culture and what happened in July 1942 in Paris. However, I felt the book is not about the past, but about the present. The main idea and the struggle that is demonstrated so clearly in the book is the one between the opposing forces, the ones that would like to keep the present pleasant and free of past "messes" and the ones who uncover the secrets that should not be kept secrets in the first place. I just read a children's book where the character says that we should always move forward to life's messy glory.. Life is messy overall, keeping secrets do not make the "mess" go away. We must never forget.

I admire the character, Julia, for being so persistent in following the story. I loved both stories, Sarah's and Julia's. I love that Julia was able to find her voice. I think that we become better people connecting to the past. One can only find himself knowing the roots of his family, people, and country. Sarah gave Julia a voice of her own.

I love the writing, too. I thought that the language matched each character, and Zoe sounded like many kids I know. The ending was believable for me as well. Holocaust survivors did not always survive unless they had family. Julia had no one. I read stories, fictional and non-fictional accounts of the survivors ending their lives because it was too much to bear. It just proves that moving away and not talking about things, does not help, and it does not even dull the pain. We must accept and recognize the past, and I truly believe that we can never have too many books about Holocaust...

Great book!

More than just another European WWII Story

Sarah's Key is a beautifully written story that needed to be told. It is a work of fiction but based on some horrifically true events. It is more than another European WWII story. It is about a modern woman's struggles and self discovery.

More than anything else, it helps me to know what books a reviewer loves most when deciding on whether or not to spend my time or money on a particular book. Below I have listed some of my 5 or 4½ star books from many different genres:

Anne of Green Gables, The Book Thief, Bossypants, Catch Me if You Can, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, A Christmas Carol, The Clan of the Cave Bear series, The Color Purple, The Davinci Code, A Dog’s Purpose, Emma, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, A Girl Named Zippy, Glass Castle, Gone with the Wind, The Green Mile, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Harry Potter Series, The Help, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 1-3, The Hunger Games, To Kill a Mockingbird, Let’s Pretend this Never Happened, Little Women, Mind Hunter, Nineteen Minutes, The Outlander series, Peace like a River, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Pride and Prejudice, Saving Sammy, The Secret life of Bees, Shawshank Redemption, My Sister’s Keeper, Stand by Me, The Stand, The Time Traveler’s Wife, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...

Historical

Brings to light the French Holocaust of which not many people are aware. The story was a little too coincidental but entertaining.

Tragic story

Excellent story. But narration dragged a bit. Better to have read it. A tragic plot, obviously.

OUTSTANDING!!!!

I listened to the whole book in 1 day. This is an excellent story which actually taught me something of history. I had no idea the French imprisoned Jewish people during the war, I actually did some research after I finished this. I listen to audiobooks constantly and this one is probably one of my favorites.

took me a minute to get into it

I would recommend the book it was some good information about that event that took place and it was an okay book but I would recommend it as a reed