sarah's key

it isn't a new book. I'm so behind now that I'm not in the book world on any sort of regular basis. but it was still a book I really enjoyed.

sarah's key, by tatiana de rosnay.

I do admit to being a fan of historical fiction, especially when it is about an event I knew nothing about previously. sarah's key takes place in paris, 1942, intertwining 10-year-old sarah starzynski's horrific story with that of julia Jarmond, an american journalist assigned to research the Velodrome d'Hiver event, 60 years after it happened. it happens that in her sleuthing, julia discovers a family secret that connects her husband's family to sarah, tying in the past with the present in a believable way.

I had never heard about the round up of more than 12 000 jews by the french police. I also had not read an account so explicit as tatiana's apart from schindler's list. I was not able to put the book down once I carved out some time to really read on sunday. my eyes did not remain dry, either.

I know it is "only" a work of fiction, but imagine being a small, frightenend girl, forced to act as an adult because her mother was incapacitated by fear when the french police pounded on their door, demanding everyone inside to gather what they could then leave. picture the same girl making the decision to hide her as of yet unnoticed four year old brother inside a secret cupboard, locking him in, with the promise that she would return for him later that day. try to comprehend the immense guilt she then lived with as one day turned into the next, and the next until she finally lost count, consumed with the thought of his little body suffocating to death, wondering why she forgot about him.

I wanted to know so much more about sarah than the book revealed, but it was still an enjoyable read that I highly recommend.