Sarah’s Key, written by Tatiana De Rosnay, is my favourite book because it ties together the past and the present in an unique way. It is about a young Jewish girl named Sarah, who lives in Paris during World War Two. Her family is forced out of their home and rounded up by the French police. They are held in a velodrome until they are to be transported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. The story fast forwards to sixty years later, following an American journalist, Julia, who lives in Paris and is writing a magazine article on the roundup that affected Sarah’s life. Julia discovers withheld family secrets, that lead her straight to Sarah. What she finds out both shocks her, and changes her life in an extraordinary way.

This book combines history with suspense in a way that hooks its reader. As the story unfolds, more secrets are revealed about Sarah’s life.This book will keep you intrigued until the end. De Rosnay wrote the book in a way that is easy to follow, even though it switches from past to present frequently. Her dialogue, characters, and plot, in general, are delivered with honesty and realism. She makes you feel like the fictional events in the book truly did occur. The roundup of the Parisian Jews, otherwise known as the Vel D’hiver, is the only non-fictional event that occurs in the book.

Sarah’s Key is a tearjerker, and that is what I think makes it a good book. The tragic events that Sarah experiences are so realistic and heartbreaking. Anyone reading this book has a good chance of displaying some sort of emotion, whether it be anger, horror, and/or sadness. It has left an impact on me, and I am sure it will affect anyone else who has read this book. Sarah’s key will both educate you about the Holocaust, and entertain you with its emotionally suspenseful plotline.

It would be wrong for me to say that the book, in its entirety, was perfect. If I could change some parts of the book, it would be to include more details about the past, and less about the present. I would like to get to know Sarah’s character a bit better, and a lot less about Julia. Sarah’s story is the main reason this book is such a success. Julia’s story is not very eventful, and the author seems to think the reader will feel some kind sympathy towards her, or be able to relate to her. Her ‘tragic’ life that consists of a disintegrating marriage, miscarriage and homesickness, can’t even compare to the horrors that Sarah faces. Julia also uses Sarah’s story as an escape, or distraction, from her own life. This is a good book to read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Holocaust, Paris, or just a tragic novel to make you cry.