Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

REVIEWED BY RUBY STEINBERG

I heard a thud at the door.
“Mummy, are the French policemen here to take us away?” There was no reply, just fear in her innocent eyes.
“It’s the police- open up!” There was no stop to the horrific thudding. It was drilled into my brain. It was like I was trapped in a dark, intimate room, in the middle of nowhere, with no possibility to see the light of day again.
Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, lives peacefully with her Mum, Dad and little brother Michel in Paris, 1942. She is a girl who lives a ordinary lifestyle- attends school and likes to be with her friends- but it all changed that one lonely July night. The French policemen men bombarded Sarah’s family’s home. This is when Sarah took the initiative to hide his brother, Michel, promising she will be back- not knowing what the circumstances were. 60 years later, A journalist, Julia Jarmound, and American immigrant, is given an assignment to research about the Jewish-French people that experienced ‘The Shoah” for the 60th anniversary article in the American magazine company she worked for. Eventually investigating more about this historical event, Julia finds that she has a connection with one of the young girls that were abducted from her Jewish home by the French policemen. Tatiana intertwines the 2 stories exceptionally well throughout the story.
The content in this book is very outstanding. Tatiana de Rosnay is simply like a swan when it comes to writing, smooth and elegant. She has this unique power to write similar chapters, without making them repetitive. This has a large impact on the content itself-which makes it phenomenal. She showed feelings and events extremely well, both in Sarah and Julia’s lives. In Sarah’s case, she was always tired, worrying about her brother who was trapped in the cupboard and questioning the situation. Tatiana did show all this grief that Sarah was going through in a very refined way. With Julia, Tatiana writes a great part for her as she always has interviews for her article and her explains her personal life very thoroughly.
This book is a heart-warming masterpiece, created by Tatiana de Rosnay. Coming from English, French and Russian descent, she grew up with big aspirations- as her father was a scientist and mother was an engineer. From 1984 until 1993, Tatiana was a Paris editor for Vanity Fair. After this, she has written and published ten novels. Sarah’s Key has been published in 38 countries and has sold over three million copies- worldwide. Also, Sarah’s Key has been created into a movie in 2010.
Sarah’s Kay is truly magnificent in so many ways. The historical fiction teaches us about this tragic event that most people have never even heard about. Tatiana really connects the book to the reader which shows that this book has definitely been a best-seller and a lightening but heart-wrenching story.
I quickly raced to my room that I shared with Michel. Mummy told me to pack some clothes for a few days. I also asked mummy where we were going, but she ignored me. Michel had fear in his eyes. He was frightened. I assured him that everything was going to be fine. I decided to leave Michel in our cupboard with water and a torch. Before I left, I went back to lock the cupboard, “I’ll be back, I promise”, and kissed his forehead goodbye.