Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Sarah's Key (Tatiana de Rosnay)

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard -- their secret hiding place -- and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.
Sixty years later: Sarah's story interwines with that of Julia Jarmond, a journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah and to questions about her own future.

Zakhor, Al Tichkah ("Never forget" in Hebrew)

This story is so painful yet compelling. Like Julia, one is torn between the desire to know and the comfort of ignorance. I have donated this book to the PHS library. (MLH, faculty).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This was a very moving story which really kept my attention throughout. I also appreciated that I learned something of an historical event about which I had not known before. (It even prompted me to do some more research on the vel d'hiv - horrific story!)Thanks for the recommendation of this book - I encourage others to read it, as well.