#151
Title: Sarah’s Key
Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
Read by: Polly Stone
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: Read and Review, The 2nd, Whisper in My Ear, Support Your Local Library, 52 Books in 52 Weeks
Rating: A
Published: 2007
CDs/Hours: 8/10
Dates read: 12/2/11 – 12/10/11

The hallmark of a good book is its ability to make me weep. And this book did towards the end. While this is another holocaust story the author does a beautiful job of tying in the past with the future and does so with depicting scenes from July 16, 1942, and the days that followed, then scenes from the early 21st century. Sarah and her mother and father were gathered with other Jews in Paris during the Roundup that hot July day. Sarah was the first to hear the knock at the door. At first she thought it was her father, coming up from his hiding place in the cellar. He’d forgotten his keys … But then came the voices. Nothing to do with her father. “Police! Open up!” Her younger brother asleep stirred in the next bed. She was afraid. She remembered the hushed conversations … Her father and mother’s voices. He had explained that it would be safer if he slept downstairs. When would it be safe again?

Thus begins the story of Sarah’s key to the cupboard her younger brother is hidden in. She promised him she’d come back as soon as they rest of the family is released.