Sarah’s Key
“You’re playing with Pandora’s box. Sometimes it’s better not to open it. Sometimes it’s better not to know.” - Sarah’s key by Tatiana de Rosnay
I love reading about war. War is that part of history that we can never truly leave behind. It changes lives in an irreversible manner – death, change in government policies, borders are created; that prevent you from visiting your loved ones AND that gnawing memory of all things one did as a civilian during the war.
Sarah’s story takes us back to the eve of 16th July, 1942 in France. The Jews were being rounded up and like the rest of them Sarah Starzynski along with her parents was taken to the Velodrome.
The Velodrome d’hiver is an indoor cycle stadium which on its exterior looks so innocent but within it, it hid over thirteen thousand Jewish families. People barely had any place to move about and had to stay indoors for 3 whole days before they were transported off to Drancy and from there to Auschwitz.
At Drancy the men were separated from the women and children. Later the mothers were separated from the children. All had the same end waiting for them – Gas chambers.
60 years later Julia Jarmond, an American journalist is asked to write about what happened on the eve of 16-07-1942. While she is researching on this, she moves into a new home with her husband and daughter. In due course she discovers that she is pregnant, except her husband doesn’t want the child. The rift that was slowly creeping into their relationship drives then further apart when he asks her to choose between him and the child.
In the midst of her personal life falling apart she discovers about Sarah and further dives into her research only to find that the house she moved into is where Sarah lived as a little girl before the roundup of 1942.
Looking for more information on Sarah in a manner leads her to self-discovery. She finds herself growing independent of her relationships and starts empathising with Sarah.
Her search leads her to Sarah’s son, who doesn’t want to know anything about Sarah. She finds she can’t convince him to hear her out. With that she knows she has to move to New York away from the house that Sarah lived in with her parents and little brother.
The story keeps shuffling between the past and the present. Both protagonists have to come to terms with their emotions. Both take a leap – one of resignation the other of faith.
I liked the book in terms of the piece of history it dealt with. Jacques Chirac was the first Prime Minister of France to step forward and admit France’s role during the WWII. In his speech in 1995 he went on state that France was indeed just as much to blame as other countries that participated in eradicating Jews. This was met with a lot of criticism because back then the government in Vichy wasn’t considered as an “elected” government but one that sprung up because of a putsch. Hence nobody wanted to take blame for any events that happened during the reign of said government. But yes it’s now been over 75 years and France has slowly started to accept its role in WWII.
My rating of the book: 3.5/5
Would I recommend it? Yes! History always takes you back in time. Borrow this book from your nearest library if you fear buying the book and not enjoying it.
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