History was always my least favorite subject in school. I couldn't relate to it because it was already in the past. Yet the parts of history that I was drawn to were the struggles, the suffering, the wars. The Holocaust, in particular, has had my attention from the get go. I have read books on it, visited museums dedicated to it, and listened to survivors tell their story. So when I found out that Sarah's Key had the Holocaust as a primary focus I felt I had to read it. 
 What I loved about the book was that de Rosnay taught me more. She focused the book on a particular, often overlooked, event during the Holocaust which was the "The great roundup at the Velodrome d'Hiver." In addition, she shed light on the role that the French played in killing many of those people, particularly the children. She took my troubles relating to history and allowed me to relate with the use of her characters and historical times mixed with current times. 
 Yet she did it all with such a tender story of a little girl, Sarah, who was taken along with her parents from her home because they were Jewish. Before the police could search the house Sarah hid her brother in a cupboard to save him and locked it. She told him that she would come back for him. The story is not only of her journey to get back to her brother but her journey in life. It flips from her story, set back during the Holocaust, to current times with a journalist who is investigating more into what happened. 
 I almost gave this book four stars because of Julia's (the journalist) need for validation. I couldn't stand that her validation became such a priority over those that had done the suffering. In other words, it shouldn't have been about her but about them. However, I went with a five because I had trouble putting down this book. Generally, I can't read when there is TV or anything with words playing around me. Yet my husband was listening to a podcast and I was too engrossed in the story to drift away. It was a page turner for me and it wasn't fast pace, per say. I just became intrigued with these characters, with Sarah, her brother, and Julia, and the story as a whole. 
 A great read from Tatiana De Rosnay!