Sarah's Key

In July 1942, the French police arrest Sarah and her Jewish family in the early hours of morning. When the police ask Sarah to get her brother, she locks him in a hidden cabinet so that the Nazis will not find him. Sarah, her mother, and father are taken to the Vélodrome d’Hiver, a stadium for bicycle races in Paris, where they are crammed in with thousands of other Jews. Here, they are starved and treated like animals in unbelievable heat. Sarah worries about her brother, who is locked in a cabinet with no food and not much air. Sarah is also confused; she does not know why they are being captured, and where they will be taken. Later, Sarah and her family are marched through the streets of Paris, and loaded onto a train headed to concentration camps, where the family is separated. Later, Sarah manages to escape without her family, but accompanied by a young girl named Rachel. Eventually, Sarah transforms from a confused, scared girl to a brave one. With little food or money, Sarah tries to make it back to Paris to free her brother.

Sixty years later, Sarah’s story intertwines with that of an American journalist living in Paris by the name of Julia Jarmond. When asked to write about the Vél d’Hiv incident by her boss, Julia is puzzled. When she asks her French husband and other friends, they seem to have never learned about it. Julia eventually finds books about it and witnesses to the event, slowly uncovering the big picture. Julia finds that it was the French police and not the Nazis who decided to kill all the Jewish children. Soon after, she figures out that the French people have avoided teaching it in school out of shame. Lastly, Julia traces the Jews back to her own apartment, where a Jewish family once lived before the roundup. Here she finds a cleverly hidden cabinet; the same one Sarah locked her brother in 60 years ago. These discovers eventually lead her to question whether she truly loves her husband, as he seems to not care at all about her feelings on this matter. Julia slowly finds clues that help her learn Sarah’s entire story.