What Secret Asian Girl is Reading Now: Sarah's Key

I was just complaining to my co-workers that I need to stop reading crap (and by this I mean all that fast food, formulaic, co-authored pablum churned out by NY Times bestseller authors) when this book came along.  Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay is one of those rare, can't-put-down novels that grabs you right from the start and ushers you through the character's journey instead of stringing you along to stretch a weak story. There's nothing weak about the storyline here: In 1942, a Jewish family living in Paris is growing accustomed to having family members abruptly taken in for questioning. To prepare for the inevitable, the father hides in the cellar nightly, telling his wife and two young children to pretend they don't know where he is.  Even if he is taken in, he assures them, it will just be for a night or two. In mid July, French police, complicit with German occupied soldiers, round up thousands of Jews, mostly women and children, and keep them at the Vélodrome d'Hiver, a bicycle stadium outside of Paris. Their final destination: Auschwitz. Vél d'Hiv, as the roundup comes to be known, is a shameful black smear on the city's history and Parisians, then and today, strive to erase the memory. But back in 1942, the young family, thinking this is just one more overnight interrogation, cooperates with French police and go with them, all except for 4-year old Michel, who hides in the children's secret cupboard. Sarah, his 10-year old sister, locks him in, hoping to protect him for the night. She plans to get the key to her father when he comes out of the cellar. When Sarah's father runs out and insists on going with his family, Sarah is faced with the horrifying realization that she may have entombed her little brother in the cupboard, unless she can find a way back to unlock him. The story switches from then to present day, as displaced American writer Julia Jarmond prepares to move into a renovated Parisian apartment once owned by a Jewish family. Julia's research reveals the name of the family and Sarah's sad story but more importantly, an eye-opening account of an event in history that many would like to forget. Julia's obsession with finding out what happened 60 years ago leads her to Sarah's personal story and how her own family is connected to it. I only have one small complaint about the construction of the this novel and that's the end where the author needed to tie up the ends and get out.  Instead, it sort of meanders through another few years then stops. But overall, I found myself staying up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to find out what happens when the cupboard is finally reopened and how Sarah's key unlocks other secrets in Julia's life as well. Despite the setting, I wouldn't categorize this book as holocaust fiction, although without an event as traumatizing as that it's doubtful this story would ever have been plausible. If you're looking to shake off winter boredom but you can't find anything substantial that's not about vampires or millionaire playboy assassins, this is a good start.