Friday Finds…Sarah’s Key
The other day, Seven & I were browsing the books in Target when I stumbled across Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I choose books first by the cover. I know you aren’t suppose to do that, but seriously – for me, I have to be intrigued by the looks of it. Then comes the blurb. If I can’t get through the synopsis that’s supposed to get me to buy the book…forget it. Both the cover and the blurb reeled me in on this one. I knew I had a Barnes & Noble Gift Certificate, though, so I bought it online and it arrived a couple of days ago.
First off – Gorgeous writing. But the kicker is that this book opened my eyes to a time period that is filled with the most horrific acts one human can do to another human. I read Shindler’s List when it came out…but I was a different person then. I wasn’t a mother. Reading about the Holocaust now is a completely different experience.
This book chronicles the life of a young Jewish girl living in Paris in 1942, and begins on the day the French police come to arrest her family in the middle of the night. Under the impression that the Nazis only wanted men and that they would only be gone for a few hours, Sarah allows her 4 year old brother to lock himself in their secret hiding place, vowing that she will take the key and come back to get him the next day. He was left with his teddy bear, water, and a flashlight.
Sarah and her parents did not return.
Sixty years later, Julia, a writer in Paris is assigned to research that particular night in July of 1942, a night known in history as the Vel’ de Hiv’. It is through her investigations that she finds a connection with Sarah, and stops at nothing to find out what happened to this little girl and her family. Chapter by excrutiating chapter, we are shown the tragedy as it unfolds, both from Sarah’s experience as well as Julia’s. There are scenes in this book that I will never forget. The utter disloyalty of mankind seems unimaginable, especially in a society that was so recent. Sixty years ago, my grandparents were young adults – I wonder how much of this they were made aware of? It’s so hard to believe that I know people who were alive during this. How did the world deal with it? Was it front page news everyday? I should have paid better attention in World History, I guess. Or maybe it is a time in history our educators would just as soon forget.
It certainly makes me want to talk to my Grandfather about it. He was 13. He joined the Army a short 4 years later, even though he was too young to do so. I wonder – were Americans aware of the horrors taking place in Europe? Yes, I know they knew of Hitler, but what of the children? The families being murdered because of their religon or skin color or last name?
For anyone who would like a history lesson that is told in a fictional way so as to make the characters touchable, this is a great book. I honestly could not put it down. Grab a tissue or two, though. You’ll need it.
As always, I am still on the lookout for more great reads in my quest to read 52 Books in 52 Weeks. To those of you who have left recommendations via the Comments or Tweeted me, thank you! I hope to get to most of them – so long as my library has them!
