"Sarah's Keys" - A Sobering Read...

Due to a rather painful knee injury, I was forced to spend the day laying on the couch, but it gave me a chance to read Tatiana de Rosnay's moving novel, Sarah's Key.  This unforgettable novel was impossible to put down.  After 7 hours straight of reading, I closed the book on the final page and I was saddened to leave behind these characters I grew to love. Set (mostly) in Paris, it is the story of an American journalist, Julia Jarmond, who is assigned by her editor to write an article on the 60th anniversary of the Vel' D'Hiv Roundup, a Nazi decreed and Vichy supported mass arrest from July 16-17, 1942 in Paris of over 13,000 French Jews (men, women and children) by the French police (code name: Operation Spring Breeze). These victims were rounded up and housed for days in the Vélodrome d'Hiver (an indoor bicyle racing stadium), then sent to French internment camps and eventually to Auschwitz where they would perish in the gas chambers. During her investigation into this horrific time in France's history, Julia discovers a link to these events in her own life through her French husband's family and how a 60 year old secret could destroy her marriage. This book has been heralded as the French Sophie's Choice, a worthy comparison. 

Sarah's Key is a reminder of a horrific time in history and how the French conveniently tend to forget their collaborative efforts in assisting the Nazi regime's genicidal program. This is a difficult book to read because of the subject matter at hand, but it is a moving story and one that you will be hard pressed to forget after the end of the story. While it is a work of fiction, the events of Vel' D'Hiv are frighteningly real.  [Note:  I know this was made into a movie starring Kristen Scott Thomas.  I have not seen the movie so I cannot compare the two.] I highly recommend everyone give this important book a read.  You will not be sorry!