Sarah's Key
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.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Sarah's Key
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1942, ten-year-old Sarah hides her little brother in a cupboard before French police arrest her family for the Vel d'Hiv roundup. Sixty years later, journalist Julia Jarmond is assigned to cover the anniversary.
Sarah's Key is fictional but built around the real 1942 Vel d'Hiv roundup, in which French police arrested over 13,000 Jews in Paris and held them in the Velodrome d'Hiver before deportation. Tatiana de Rosnay researched the documented history extensively.
Yes. A 2010 French film adaptation directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and starring Kristin Scott Thomas was released. The film is widely considered a faithful adaptation.
Sarah's Key was written by Tatiana de Rosnay, published in 2006 by St. Martin's Griffin.
Sarah's Key is 356 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Sarah's Key takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
Sarah's Key is a standalone novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, not part of a series.
Sarah's Key is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.