Sarahs Key follows the story of two people Sarah Starzynsky, a ten-year-old Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Paris and Julia Jarmond, an ex-patriate American living in Paris and writing an investigative piece for the 60th anniversary of the Vel dHiv round up.
On July 16, 1942, the French police rounded up the Jewish families in Paris, took them to the Velodome dHiver (aka Vel dHiv) and left them there with no food, water and inadequate bathroom facilities for days. Sarah and her parents are part of this group. Her brother, Michel, has been left behind, hidden in a cupboard in their apartment. Sarah has the key and has promised to come back and rescue her brother.
Eventually, the French police separate the men from the women, and then the women from the children. The adults are sent, straight away to concentration camps, where they are gassed. The children arent sent right away they are held back until other adults are sent to the camps. These children are immediately sent to the gas chambers as well.
The whole time, Sarah is determined to get back to her apartment and save her brother.
In July 2002, in Paris, the French still deny knowledge of the events of that July. Most will say it was the Nazis and that it was in the past, so it should stay there. France is a country in denial. Julias investigation of the roundup is causing a bit of a stir among her friends and her French husbands family.
While working on the story, her husband, an architect, is in the process of remodeling the apartment his grandparents moved into in July 1942, so they move into it. Julia soon realizes that her husbands grandparents were probably able to get the apartment because the Jews were deported. She tries to ask his grandmother about the events, but her father-in-law finds out and tells her to not discuss this with her any more. Her relationship with her father-in-law has never been good, but she respects his wishes but continues to investigate what Jewish family had lived in their apartment.
The book starts out switching back and forth between Sarah and Julias stories. Each story told from the appropriate characters POV, but it takes several chapters before they tell you their names. I found this to be a bit off-putting, because if the chapter was longer than two pages, youd just be getting into the characters story and then the POV would change.
Eventually, when Sarahs story comes to a dead end, this stops and the story focuses on Julia.
This was a wonderful book I had a hard time putting it down. I really wanted to find out what happened to Sarah and if Julia would ever learn of her connection to Sarah.
On July 16, 1942, the French police rounded up the Jewish families in Paris, took them to the Velodome dHiver (aka Vel dHiv) and left them there with no food, water and inadequate bathroom facilities for days. Sarah and her parents are part of this group. Her brother, Michel, has been left behind, hidden in a cupboard in their apartment. Sarah has the key and has promised to come back and rescue her brother.
Eventually, the French police separate the men from the women, and then the women from the children. The adults are sent, straight away to concentration camps, where they are gassed. The children arent sent right away they are held back until other adults are sent to the camps. These children are immediately sent to the gas chambers as well.
The whole time, Sarah is determined to get back to her apartment and save her brother.
In July 2002, in Paris, the French still deny knowledge of the events of that July. Most will say it was the Nazis and that it was in the past, so it should stay there. France is a country in denial. Julias investigation of the roundup is causing a bit of a stir among her friends and her French husbands family.
While working on the story, her husband, an architect, is in the process of remodeling the apartment his grandparents moved into in July 1942, so they move into it. Julia soon realizes that her husbands grandparents were probably able to get the apartment because the Jews were deported. She tries to ask his grandmother about the events, but her father-in-law finds out and tells her to not discuss this with her any more. Her relationship with her father-in-law has never been good, but she respects his wishes but continues to investigate what Jewish family had lived in their apartment.
The book starts out switching back and forth between Sarah and Julias stories. Each story told from the appropriate characters POV, but it takes several chapters before they tell you their names. I found this to be a bit off-putting, because if the chapter was longer than two pages, youd just be getting into the characters story and then the POV would change.
Eventually, when Sarahs story comes to a dead end, this stops and the story focuses on Julia.
This was a wonderful book I had a hard time putting it down. I really wanted to find out what happened to Sarah and if Julia would ever learn of her connection to Sarah.
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