Search This Blog









2023 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (2)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (2)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (16)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (3)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (2)
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (1)
- Illinois (1)
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (4)
- Maryland (3)
- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (4)
- Minnesota (1)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (2)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (1)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (15)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (1)
- Oregon (1)
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (2)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (4)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (6)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (2)
- (1)
- Washington, D.C.* (1)
International:
- Australia (3)
- Barbados (1)
- Canada (9)
- Chile (1)
- England (25)
- France (2)
- Ireland (2)
- Italy (1)
- Nigeria (1)
- Norway (1)
- Scotland (3)
- South Korea (1)
- Sweden (1)
- The Netherlands (2)
- Ukraine (1)
-Vietnam (1)





2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge







Saturday, November 22, 2014
Haunting Sarah's Key A Powerful Read
1:12 PM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
On a summer night in July of 1942, 10-year-old Sarah Starzynski awakens to the sound of someone pounding on her front door. A bolt of fear races through her. She's heard her parents whispering about round-ups and camps and Jewish men being forced from their homes. Have the police found her father, who spends every night hiding in the cellar? Are they going to take him away? Sarah's shocked when the policemen—French policeman, no less—demand that she and her mother come with them. In the few minutes she's given to pack her things, Sarah locks her little brother in a secret cupboard, promising he'll be safe until she can come back for him.
Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond—an American journalist living in Paris—is researching the Vélodrome d'Hiver roundup in order to write a story for the upcoming anniversary of its occurrence. Although the Parisians she talks to are reluctant to speak of it—if, indeed, they've even heard of it—Julia is fascinated by this little known event in the city's history. The more she discovers about the roundup, which involved the arrests of around 12,000 Jews, mostly women and children, the more horrified she becomes. When she finds a personal link to one of the roundup's young victims, Julia vows to find out what happened to little Sarah Starzynski and her family.
Urged by her family and friends in Paris to leave the matter alone, Julia becomes even more determined in her quest. As her search for the truth becomes an obsession she can't let go of, she finds herself reevaluating her own life, from her marriage to her work to her own future.
Since I'm probably the last blogger on Earth to read Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosnay's bestselling novel, I don't have to tell you what a powerful read it is. The rave reviews the book's garnered speak for themselves. Although the events related in the story are similar to those in other Holocaust novels, de Rosnay brings something new to the genre. Her prose feels a little stiff, but other than that, she tells the kind of compelling, haunting tale that stays with you long after you close the book.
(Readalikes: Reminds me of other adult novels about the Holocaust, including Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (one F-bomb, plus milder invectives), violence, and mild sexual innuendo/content
To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of Sarah's Key with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)




Reading
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Listening
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
November Reading Wrap Up 20231 hour ago
-
-
Time Travel Thursday3 hours ago
-
-
-
-
A Review of A Winter’s Night7 hours ago
-
My Tel Aviv Table By Limor Chen8 hours ago
-
-
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill11 hours ago
-
Shades of Death by Angela Ransom11 hours ago
-
November Reflections14 hours ago
-
On the Run 919 hours ago
-
WIP Wednesday for 29 November 202322 hours ago
-
-
The Fourth Rule - Jeff Lindsay1 day ago
-
-
-
-
Nonfiction November: New to my TBR1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
I have been reading...3 days ago
-
Sunday Salon: November 26, 20233 days ago
-
-
-
Happy Thanksgiving, 2023!!1 week ago
-
2024 Motif Reading Challenge1 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?1 month ago
-
Reading Recap August 20232 months ago
-
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra5 months ago
-
-
Dotty Beanie with Ears6 months ago
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)