Sarahs Key

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Average customer rating 4.8 (41 comments)

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Sarah and her family were having an ordinary day. Although her parents seemed on edge, no one had reason to expect the nightmare they were about to face. Julia was an American journalist who had lived in Paris for many years. She was also at a crossroads she never expected. What happens to both of these women is astonishing. Well written and plotted. Characters are well defined and relate-able. This book will haunt the reader. It's educational and historic. I'm sure many will be surprised when they devour this book. Ms. de Rosnay has just the right touch for this emotional story. GET THIS BOOK! I found no issues. I gave this one a resounding 5 cheers out of 5 because this book still haunts me. copy of book provided by author and I voluntarily reviewed it.

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One of the greatest novels about the horrible times that were World War II. A middle-aged woman, whose life seems to be crumbling around her, discovers the secret of a young Jewish girl's life in World War II and follows the trail of the girl's life before, during and after World War II. This book is riveting and awakening and closely follows two women from different times as one discovers the other's hard life and tries to work through her own. A must-read for all ages. One of the best books I have ever read. Praise to Tatiana de Rosnay for this work of art.

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This book was very moving for me, it talks about the events of 1942 and various situations I was unfamiliar with. The book follows a young Jewish girl through one of the most difficult times of the war and until her death some 60 years later. Most moving was the impact of the difficulties, not only she faced, but those around her and how they dealt with the shame/crimes...even I cried to the end. This is a must read for everyone it really personalized the events while showing how the citizens on both sides of the fences dealt with the injustices of war.

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This was a beautiful story,so touching. I read it a few years ago but just thinking of it now, I get a lump in my throat. I dont remember all the details but the story was just wonderful.

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Such a unique and haunting take on a WWII story- alternating between modern day and the 1940s, Sarah's Key is a must read for any lover of historical fiction.

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An incredible spellbinder that was astounding in detail regarding a family's peril while captured and held in Paris, France during the start of World War II. It was riveting.

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I was hooked on this book in the first few pages. And remained so until the last page. It is a compelling heart-wrenching story set in two time periods and revolving around two dominant female characters. I have loaned my copy to several friends and all said it was a 'must read.' I highly recommend it.

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Loved this book, I could not put it down!!

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This is an AMAZING book about a young Jewish girl's experience during the Vel D'hiv and the guilt she is forced to live with for the rest of her life, told from two different time periods. It is so haunting but beautifully written. My entire family read this book and I recommend it for anyone who is interested!

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I started this book at 3PM Sunday, read until 3AM Monday when I could no longer stay away. At 8 AM when my alarm went off, I called my office to say I would be late, curled back under the covers and finished the book. This is the story of a Jewish family in Paris during the Vichy government's roundups of prisoners to meet the quotas established by the Nazis in the 1940s. Once you learn about about the family, you think you have an idea what is going to happen to them, but then you learn about a secret cupboard and the key that will open it. From that point the story takes on an urgency that compels you to read more. Nothing is predictable about this book, and with each turn you grow closer to the outcome but with each revelation, there is also a new set of circumstances. Once the secret of the cupboard is revealed, then you want to know what happened to Sarah. The story of the Jewish is family is captivating, but there is an added storyline that is just as intriguing. The narrator of the story is an American Expat who is married to a French man and together they have a daughter. As the American writer works on a magazine assignment on the Vichy roundups, she uncovers more than what happened to the French Jews. She learns that the secret connects to her husband's family history and with that discovery come unsettling family issues that cause division and strife. Both of the stories take interesting turns that are very unexpected and the endings are not at all what you are expecting. I have purchased this book as a gift and recommended it to many. Enjoy!

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I started this book at 3PM Sunday, read until 3AM Monday when I could no longer stay away. At 8 AM when my alarm went off, I called my office to say I would be late, curled back under the covers and finished the book. This is the story of a Jewish family in Paris during the Vichy government's roundups of prisoners to meet the quotas established by the Nazis in the 1940s. Once you learn about about the family, you think you have an idea what is going to happen to them, but then you learn about a secret cupboard and the key that will open it. From that point the story takes on an urgency that compels you to read more. Nothing is predictable about this book, and with each turn you grow closer to the outcome but with each revelation, there is also a new set of circumstances. Once the secret of the cupboard is revealed, then you want to know what happened to Sarah. The story of the Jewish is family is captivating, but there is an added storyline that is just as intriguing. The narrator of the story is an American Expat who is married to a French man and together they have a daughter. As the American, who is a writer, works on a magazine assignment on the Vichy roundups, she uncovers more than what happened to the French Jews. She learns that the secret connects to her husband's family history and with that discovery come unsettling family issues that cause division and strife. Both of the stories take interesting turns that are very unexpected and the endings are not at all what you are expecting. I have purchased this book as a gift and recommended it to many. Enjoy!

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While it is a sad story to read, it was well-written and captivates the readers. Many people are not aware of the Nazi presence in Paris during WWII. This book highlights historical events from that period and explores the emotions of people, past and present, touched by this events.

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This book left me speechless. There is so much that is disturbing but also so much that is truly amazing in these characters.

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A heartbreaking look into the part the French played in the Holocaust. So many families devastated by the round up and eventual trip to the German run concentration/work camps. And the blase-ness of the French not caring/wanting to know their part in WWII makes you feel the pain of Julia as she delves into the history of the apartment she is moving into and it's part in the Vel' d'Hiv. Tatiana de Rosnay has created a very believable story that makes you want to know how it ends. I would highly recommend the book over the movie. The pain and suffering of little Sarah is so well captured in the pages that the screen version just cannot compare.

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Sad but so worth the read!

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A haunting and heartbreaking experience for any reader. A definite must read.

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Previously I knew very little of France's contribution to the Holocaust. This book is well written, suspenseful, and heart warming.

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Amazing story. It makes you feel for the family and want to learn more about your culture and history.

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Sarah's Key was a fabulous book. I enjoyed the concept of two stories, one from the present & the other from the past. It was a powerful story & one of those books you don't want to put down. Tatiana de Rosnay wrote a beautiful account of a tragic time in our history but in a poignant & gripping style. I would recommend this book to my friends.

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This book is so hard to put down. A haunting story that makes you think about how we look at the past and how the past touches lives even today. I loved this book!

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I read Sarah’s Key earlier this year, and I was deeply moved as well as troubled by it. It is not a happy story, but one that needed to be told. The author takes the story of the Vichy government’s treatment of the Jews and makes it very personal through a little girl named Sarah and her family. It will make you sick, and it will make you cry. But, it will also teach you about a relatively unknown event in French history: the Vél’ d’Hiv’ roundups. The shocking aspect of this story is that the Jews are not rounded up by the Nazi’s but by the French police. This book received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, and it was well deserved. But it is not light read, and it will break your heart. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it. I hope to go see the movie when it is released.

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Sarah's Key is one of those fictional stories that's has the kind of devastating heartbreak in it that makes it believable. When ten-year-old Sarah Starzynski is arrested with her parents, rounded up to be sent to a concentration camp, she doesn't understand what's happening. She thinks she'll be coming right back to their apartment on the Rue de Saintonge. She thinks it won't take long. She thinks her four-year-old brother, Michel, will be safe locked in the hidden cupboard. It doesn't take her long to realize that she's wrong. When Julia Jarmond researches the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup sixty years later, she doesn't understand how it will affect her life. She thinks she'll just be writing a story. She thinks she'll move on. She thinks her life with her husband and daughter will start again in a remodeled apartment on the Rue de Saintonge. It doesn't take her long to realize that she's wrong. Julia's investigation and Sarah's journey are told in concurrent narratives, and Tatiana de Rosnay does well to balance them until they converge. Sarah's tragedy takes on a great importance in Julia's life, becoming so much more than a story from the past. It shakes the foundations of the present and shapes the future too. There are times when I wanted a bit more depth, as some tertiary characters (inconvenient relatives, difficult spouses, etc.) are a bit too conveniently eliminated. Yet the profound grief of a child, and the far-reaching consequences of if, resonates and remains captivating.

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This book has me in tears. I can't put it down. I have lived and studied in France and I grew up in a Jewish home, yet I didn't know about this heartwrenching event in French history. I am recommending this book to my friends and family!

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Looking for the 6 star rating on this one.. I can not even begin to express how much I LOVED this book. Fantastic job of mixing history with drama. Absolutely the best I Have read in years. At times very difficult to read the details of what Sarah and her family has to deal with, but I am so very glad I did. I will be anxiously awaiting more books from Tatiana De Rosnay. This is a story that will remain with me for years to come. A must read.

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Best book I have read in years...

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This book reminds us that the past continues to affect the present and that each of us is a participant in creating history for good or ill.

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i like books that get me immediatly..could not put this one down. i loved it so much i looked up tatiana de rosnay's books, i found it and can not wait to read it. worth the cost.

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Sad story but a good way to learn about another part of the Holocaust. Good writing and character developement, actually led me to read De Rosnay's newest novel as well (A Secret Kept).

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I hesitate to recommend books that I read during a day spent in airports and in flying metal tubes because of the "captive audience syndrome" but this one really was a page-turner. It's always fun for a francophile to read about someone who lives in France but this went deeper with its historically heart-wrenching subject matter, and based on the character's experience, one that even many French people were unaware of until the mid-1990s. It's a heavy story, not entirely original either, but it is engrossing.

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I started Sarah's Key twice and stopped reading because it was so sad. However, the story stayed with me and I knew I had to find out what happened to Sarah. I'm so very glad I finished this wonderful, life changing book. It's a book that will stay with me forever.

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I could not put the book down...I did not know that much about what happened to the Jewish families in France before reading this book. I liked the way the story unfolds through the research of Julia Jarmond an American journalist.

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I found Sarah's Key to be riveting the moment I read the first few pages I was hooked. Tatiana De Rosnay paints such a vivid picture of Paris that I felt like I was watching a movie in my minds eye. The very sights and sounds of the era came alive as you walked with the little girl Sarah through the horrifying trauma of Veldrome d'Hiver. The story unfolds when the character Julia a journalist finds her own life coming to a cross-road of desperation. The two leading characters one brave woman of the past and one brave woman of the future merge into an incredible adventure of death, heartbreak, deception, intrigue, and mystery. I found myself holding my breath at times hoping and praying for both characters to find safety, retribution, and justice. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read stories that provoke your heart deeply.

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It was absolutely rivoting. I couldn't put it down, heartbreaking, particularly because it had a measure of historical truth to it.

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WWII novel from a new perspective. Loved this book and recommended it to other teachers at my school. Also sent it to a daughter in Peace Corps in Eastern Europe. It is making the rounds of the Peace Corps ranks there. A must-read!

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A truly wonderful book!

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Set in both 1942 and modern times, Sarah's Key is a mystery as well as a heartbreaking look at the round up and deportation of Jewish families from Paris to Auschwitz in what was known as the Vel d'Hiv for the place the families gathered—the Vélodrome d'hiver, or winter velodrome. Ten-year-old Sarah Starzynski is sleeping when the Paris police bang on her apartment door. Her family had heard of Jews being rounded up, but only the men. So Sarah's father was hidden in the basement, thinking his family was safe. But the police this night came for everyone. Sarah's four-year-old brother, Michel, stubbornly refused to go and insisted on hiding in a secret cupboard before the police saw him. Sarah locked Michel in and promised to come back when she returned. Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in Paris, investigates the story of the Vel d'Hiv and uncovers Sarah's story when she finds out that her husband's family moved into Sarah's apartment after her family left. She is determined to find what happened to Sarah, in the process uncovering family secrets that some think would be best to leave buried. Gripping and emotional, this fast-paced book brings to life Paris in the 1940s and in modern times. It takes a frank look at a nation and a people who for so long would not come to grips with its complicity in sending its own citizens to die in Nazi concentration camps. It also follows Julia as she delves deeper into the story while confronting conflicts of her own with her husband and his family.

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I thought I had read and learned as much as there was to learn about World War II and the tragedies of the holocaust. I learned a great deal more by reading this wonderful book. I really appreciated the stylistic method of traveling back and forth in time with the apartment in France the constant. I was moved in a way I had never been to visit Paris and learn about the vel d'hiver for myself. LOVED this book. Could not put it down.

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Captivating, suspenseful, educational, heartwrenching. Her relationship with her husband was a little to predicatable, he was consistently painted as pretty one dimensional, otherwise loved the book.

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AMAZING!!!! I could not put this one down.

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A stunning first novel. It really grabs you and sucks you in. Two intertwined stories that really touch your heart and fill you with hope for us all.

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Great story telling of the horrifying history! The writer's excellent research made her understand the untold feeling.