Summary

Sarah's key was a heart-breaking novel based on two stories combined in one. It starts off by a young girl named Sarah Starzynski telling her story of when she was arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel d'Hiv round-up of 1942. When she is arrested, they had the list of every family member, but Sarah somehow manages to get her 3 year old brother into a secret cabinet that only they knew about. She kept the key as her and her parents were taken to an indoor track with thousands of other Jewish people. They were left there for 5 days with only one cup of water, and no food. She explains what they went through and eventually, she was seperated from her mother and father.
She is sent to a concentration camp for the Jewish children as her parents are immediately sent to be killed. She finds a friend at the camp and manages to escape to go save her little brother. A kind policeman lets them go under a fence and off they went. Days go by and they finally find an old, kind German couple that lets them stay and eat in their home. After the first day, Sarah's friend is caught by the German Nazi police and taken to be killed. Sarah stays and is raised by the German couple after she goes back to Paris to find out that her little brother was still in the cabinet, dead. There was also a new family living in that apartment only 10 days after being gone.
60 years go by and it is the year of 2002. An american journalist named Julia living in Paris ends up being connected to Sarah Starzynski and wants to find out every detail of Sarah's life. She goes through so many people and sources and after getting her story, she finds Sarah's son. He knew nothing about his own mother since she had never told him anything about the holocaust or her past experiences. Julia's father in law was the one who helped her figure many things out because it was his family that had moved into Sarah's apartment after the Jewish round-up.
Sarah's story helps Julia figure out her life and helps her decide if she wants to stay with her husband or not. She sees the good things in her life and eventually moves back to United States. In the end, she ends up bumping into Sarah Starzynski's son, who is around her age, and they become friends, sharing mutual feelings on Sarah's story, and cherish Sarah's key.

What I thought when I looked at the cover.

When I first looked at the cover, I thought it would be those boring books that old people read. All I saw was two kids running towards a nice building and that's IT. I read the back cover and I had no clue what it was about, I didn't know it would end up being two stories in one. It seemed like just another book I had to read for school. I also noticed how small the writing was when I flipped through the pages. I hate reading books with small font!!

What I didn't like about the book.

Overall, this book was great. I enjoyed every page of it, except towards the end. I thought that the ending was HORRIBLE! The name that she gives her child is just a little too much. She seemed obsessed with her situation and the ending wasn't even exciting. The other thing I did not like about the book was that I noticed that the author liked to make it seem like the characters asked themselves so many questions. Why this? Why that? What if...? It was just annoying at times. Other than those two things, the book was great, highly recommended to anyone.

How this book affected me.

I had never heard of this historic event, but once I read this book I looked up the Vel d'Hiv and couldn't believe they did that to the jewish people, some were even natural born French. It gave me a sad, yet helpless feeling. Although I like learning about history, I do not like reading or hearing about what happened to the people. It made me upset, but it helped me realize that you should not treat people wrong just because of what others say about them or because of what they are. I looked at pictures of jewish people and majority of them did not even look like jews. They could've passed as germans or as catholics, but since they were so brave and proud of their religion, they went through pain and suffrage. That makes me sad that some were so clueless, but I am proud of them.

Who are the main characters in this book?

There are not many main characters in this book. It mainly focuses on 2 people. Sarah Starzynski, and Julia Jarmond. Sarah is a young girl around 7 who is arrested with her family in the Jewish round-up of 1942. Julia is an american journalist in 2002 who accidently gets herself into her own investigation on Sarah Starzynski. Other somewhat important characters are Julia's father-in-law, and the Starzynskis. They all help Julia get information on Sarah and give Julia things that belonged to her too. There are many people who are mentioned who are not important, but these are the ones who were brought up the most and made a difference in the book.

Why I couldn't put this book down.

I finished this book in 3 days. I am not the type of person to just sit and read for fun, but this book was so good. I guess it was because I am really into books that are based on true events. Although the story in this book is fiction, the setting and historical event is true. When it came to the part where Sarah was telling her story, I felt like I was right there with her. There was so much detail and I could feel everything she was feeling. It was so intense at times and it kept me reading for hours. I definitely got into the habit of reading more often because of this book and hope to find books as good as this one.

Least favorite character

My least favorite character in this book was Julia Jarmond. She was the american journalist living in Paris, France who discovered Sarah's story. The reason I didn't like her was because she was always thought she knew everything. She would want to know everything and would be nosy in things that had nothing to do with her, and if they did, she would ask so many questions. I was annoyed and enjoyed Sarah's part of the story much more. I also did not like how she was pregnant at age 45, she was upset that her husband did not want a baby at that age, but I can see why. She wanted to act younger than her age. Therefore, she was my least favorite character in the book.

What was the Vel d'Hiv Roundup mentioned in this book?

Beginning at 4:00 a.m. on the 16th of July 1942, 13,152 Jews were arrested according to records of the Préfecture de police, of which 5,802 were women and 4,051 were children. An unknown number of people were warned by the French Resistance or hidden by neighbors, deliberate or accidental, some policemen escaped being rounded-up. Conditions for the arrested were harsh. They could take only a blanket, a sweater, a pair of shoes and two shirts with them. Most families were split-up and never reunited. They were taken to wait in a window-less building with no food or water, or bathrooms for 4 days.

After arrest, some Jews were taken by bus to an internment camp in an incomplete complex of apartments and apartment towers in the northern suburb of Drancy. Others were taken to the Vélodrome d'hiver in the 15th arrondissement, which had already been used as a prison in a roundup in the summer of 1941.

This picture shows the internment camp at Drancy, outside Paris, where Jews were confined until they were deported to the death camps.

My favorite character!

My favorite character in this book was Sarah. She was the young Jewish girl in the story. What made me like her so much was that she showed so much bravery and courage throughout her story. She managed to escape a concentration camp with another young girl and went back to Paris, France to save her baby brother although it was too late. Her story ended halfway through the book, but it was definitely my favorite part to read. I know I would have never been able to do half the things that she did, therefore she is my favorite!

What this book is based on.

This book is pretty much a combination of two stories in one. One is based on a young Jewish girl named Sarah during the Jewish round-up in Paris, France in 1942. The other story is on an American journalist who lives in France in 2002 and somehow discovers the story of Sarah and how her life connects to it. After investigating her story, it helps her figure out her life and ask herself if her husband is worth staying with.