Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Sarah's Key  By  cover art

Sarah's Key

By: Tatiana de Rosnay
Narrated by: Polly Stone
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.24

Buy for $20.24

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Editorial reviews

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is the heart-breaking tale of 10-year-old Sarah Stravinsky, a French Jew, and her journey during the Holocaust in 1942. Paralleling her story is the account of American journalist Julia Jarmond, in the year 2002, who is living in France and assigned to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv', the French round-ups in which little Sarah and her family were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The two women have a tie that binds, as Julia discovers her French in-laws have owned the apartment that Sarah once lived in since her family was removed from it. As Julia desperately searches for Sarah, hoping she was one of the lucky few who escaped death at Auschwitz, she uncovers the unspeakable horror that Sarah endured in the very same apartment - a secret that has haunted her in-laws for 60 years.

If the superb simplicity of this saga isn't enough to draw you in, Polly Stone's flawless narration will. She gives each character a distinct voice (complete with accurate accent and pitch), which lends authenticity, as if the characters themselves have come alive within her. This novel, like most accounts of the Holocaust, is weighty, ridden with horrific details. Stone's tone is subtle, letting these details ring out and strike your heart. She's also a master at building suspense, and you'll find yourself so endeared by little Sarah, that you will be white-knuckled for her during her frightening journey.

The last portion of the novel is a bit drawn out, but this is forgivable, as the denouement is touching, and Sarah's struggle is one that will stick with you long after you've finished listening to it. (Colleen Oakley)

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

What listeners say about Sarah's Key

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,088
  • 4 Stars
    1,149
  • 3 Stars
    473
  • 2 Stars
    132
  • 1 Stars
    58
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,729
  • 4 Stars
    721
  • 3 Stars
    264
  • 2 Stars
    62
  • 1 Stars
    40
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,679
  • 4 Stars
    720
  • 3 Stars
    302
  • 2 Stars
    93
  • 1 Stars
    39

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Important subject and plot, pedestrian execution

As a longtime member of a university Holocaust Studies Advisory Board, this was a must-read. Alternating Sarah's and Julia's voices was audacious and successful as the plot unfolded, particularly the Sarah segments. But the novel became diffuse after Sarah (maybe halfway through the book), with plots, subplots, distracting detail, and an almost narcissistic and distracting focus on Julia's marriage and personal life. It began to read like another book--not very different from many other fictional looks at women's lives, identities, careers, marriages, hopes and disappointments. Yes, a very important genre, but it would have taken a much greater gift than Ms. de Rosnay has to meld these two novels into one. As the plot drifts, and Sarah becomes a small penumbra, the writing becomes pedestrian, and though it is not a long book, I was glad to finally reach the end.

I give the book three stars because of the subject matter and the quality of Sarah's segments.

The narrator is very good throughout, rendering the accents and affects of the many characters with skill and confidence. What must have been a lot of hard work in this voicing challenge was well worth it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Emotional and raw

I have read my share of Holocaust books, some better than others, and I always find myself learning something new. In this book it was about the Velodrome d'Hiver roundup of the Jewish families in France. In July 1942, 8,160 men, women and children were rounded up and sent to Drancy and then to Auschwitz. There is no better way to bring the horror of the Holocaust home than through the eyes of an individual child. Enter Sarah Strazynski.
Sarah, a 10 year old little girl was part of that roundup with her parents and her brother, however she did not realize the gravity of the situation and thought this was a temporary assembly. Her only thought was to save her 3 year old brother Michel. So she hid him in a locked cupboard in their home, with a teddy bear and a book and told him to be very still and quiet and she would be back to get him.
This book had two stories lines, the story of Sarah and her family being the past, and the story of Julia Jarmond being the present. Julia was a writer who married a French man. Her story is a normal present day story, not too exciting, filled with very common problems. However, she is researching the Velodrome d'Hiver incident and finds that her husband's family was very much affected by this period. Sarah's story reaches into the future to involve Julia's family. Julia digs and uncovers hidden secrets her father-in-law has been hiding.
Of course the present part of the book is not as emotionally charged and tragic as the story of Sarah, but the purpose is to show how for generations into the future, the holocaust affects lives in such a profound way.
The scenes are graphic and heart wrenching. The emotion is raw and hard to digest both in the present and the past. Sarah is the glue that brings every character in this book together. I thought the book was very well done and although there were flaws, and it was a little predictable, I'm glad I didn't miss this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Haunting

I would have liked to have given this book a 4.5. It is historical fiction at its best. Using a shameful episode in the history of France during WW11, Tatiana de Rosnay, has successfully blended the past with the present, interlacing the stories of Sarah (the past) and that of Julia (the present). De Rosnay manages to do this without becoming implausible, sentimental or melodramatic.

The historical element is told from a child's point of view, which, in the retelling, results in a gripping, haunting and poignant novel.

I would recommend this novel to all fans of the genre.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting history, fair story.

I learned some history I didn't know, and that's good. I was very disappointed with the character development. This should have been a strong, memorable story, but it fell way short. I would have much preferred to see only Sarah's story told. The current day characters were shallow, boring, and added pretty much nothing to the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Sad and important history -- trivial 'present'

Sarah was meaningful, important, special, a woman worth knowing. Julia was trivial. Sarah deserved a better advocate, one not so self-absorbed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A tough read

Certain parts of this book I had to listen too in short bits - it was just a bit too hard to take at times. But good, very good - and very bad, the bad being no fault of the author but of history. There were times I had to grit my teeth to be able to listen on - but it is such a beautiful book and I have the feeling it will be with me for a very long time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Slow... slow... slow

I really wanted to like this audiobook. It should have been intriguing, given the subject an all. Alas, I was disappointed... poor narration... weak writing... tedious and slow. I'm glad others enjoyed it... not for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

French Holocaust:Vel' d'Hiv.Outstanding narration.

Interesting story of an American Jewish woman, Julia Jarmond, living in Paris for 25 years and seemingly happily married to a non-Jewish Frenchman. A journalist working for an English language magazine, she becomes obsessed with the story of the round-up of Jews at Vel' d'Hiv in 1942. In particular, she discovers that a girl named Sarah Starzynski was among the group and that, after the war, it had never been determined just what had happened to her. This is a mystery she is determined to resolve if possible, and this plot is intertwined with Julia's internal struggles to come to terms with her heritage and, as it turns out, her husband's attitude toward her and her efforts. These two issues become intertwined more and more as the book develops, and although there was too much jumping back and forth in time in the beginning, eventually the book settles down. The prose isn't lyrical, but it does get the message across. There is too much "telling" and not enough "showing", and you need to have a high tolerance for this, as I do.

The book is enlivened by the narrator, who gives distinct voices and accents to each character, a very diverse and challenging collection. It's always difficult to read about the Holocaust, and I had not been familiar with the Vel' d'Hiv or these aspects of the French Nazi's. It's a book that I am glad to have "read."

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

An unpolished book on an important topic

If this was the best the book editor could do with the manuscript it will have to do. It was frustrating to have to read "the girl" through the first 1/3 of the book as we were not supposed to know the name of the main character, and then have the same awkward stumbling at the end with the baby because the editor couldn't get the author to use more elegant means. But the book covers important historical French actions during WWII that are not usually spoken of. I had a hard time caring about the husband but I had to take the good with the bad.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful