Sarah's Key cover art

Sarah's Key

A Novel

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About this listen

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

©2007 Tatiana de Rosnay (P)2008 Macmillan Audio 20th Century Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Jewish Literary Fiction Women's Fiction World Literature

Critic reviews

“Polly Stone's delivery of Sarah's story is riveting with its spare emotional power.” —AudioFile Magazine

“This is a remarkable historical novel, a book which brings to light a disturbing and deliberately hidden aspect of French behavior towards Jews during World War II. Like Sophie's Choice, it's a book that impresses itself upon one's heart and soul forever.” —Naomi Ragen, author of The Saturday Wife and The Covenant

“Sarah's Key unlocks the star crossed, heart thumping story of an American journalist in Paris and the 60-year-old secret that could destroy her marriage. This book will stay on your mind long after it's back on the shelf.” —Risa Miller, author of Welcome to Heavenly Heights
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Most relevant
I listened to this book as I travelled by train to Yorkshire and back and it engrossed me the whole journey. The characters were very strongly drawn and the story is well crafted. The only itrritation for me was some instances of cliched dialogue ... but the reader did a good job!!!

A good listen.

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Wow! What a wonderful read. This is one of those rare books that the reader cannot put down because it is so gripping and yet is devastated when it is finished. The centre theme of the book is the 1941 round up of the Jews in Paris by the French police. In the midst of the thousands is Sarah with her parents. When the police barge into their apartment Sarah hides her little brother in their secret cupboard, keeping the key and promising to come back for him. Her parents have protected her from the threat to Jews. Their mother is in shock and their father is in hiding. Switching to this century we follow the journalist Julia as she investigates what happened to the Jews. After the shocking discovery of a link to her own family she becomes obsessed with Sarah. Although fiction the true facts are revealing and certainly new to this reader. It was exceedingly well narrated with each character finely drawn and the accents perfect. I loved it.

Sarah`s Key

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This is a heartbreaking story based around an event I had never heard of - and for the first two thirds of the book I was expecting to give it four or maybe five stars. The narration is excellent, and the story of Sarah told so well, that I could not stop listening.
Often when I finish a book I wonder "What happened next? What did the characters in the book go on to do?" In this case, I think I would have preferred to wonder - the last part of the book feels a bit unnecessary and is far less interesting than the rest of it. That said, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it (but have some tissues handy!).

Fascinating, heartbreaking and a little too long

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I really enjoyed this book. It is a well written and moving story. The narration by Polly Stone is also very good.

Recommended

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