Sarah's Key

In the "New York Times" Bestseller, Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosnay explores the horror of the Holocaust with an original and modern twist. This historical novel revolves around two different story lines- ten-year-old Sarah, who is taken with her parents by the French police to a concentration camp in 1942 and Julia, an American journalist living in Paris in 2002. Their paths merge as Julia investigates the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup for its 60th anniversary. This unknown piece of French history is startling, morally challenging, and especially heartbreaking. Rosnay completely captures the hatred of that time, and well as the utter disbelief of the tragedy's victims. When the French police come to arrest Sarah and her family, the young girl desperately tries to protect her younger brother by locking him a cupboard- their special hiding place, and promises to return. Julia becomes determined to discover the secrets revolving around the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup and Sarah's story, as she slowly learns that this tragedy is linked to her own life, and that her and Sarah have more in common than she thought.

This novel was excellent. It was the kind of book that I found myself thinking about days later- the true mark of good read. Sarah's Key will not leave you disappointed; it is filled with mystery, suspense, and heartbreak that will make you speechless.