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A Secret Kept
Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
I bought this book wishing that it would be as great as Sarah’s Key, but I was disappointed.
As a birthday present, Antoine takes his sister Melanie for a weekend in Noirmoutier Island, the place they used to spend the summer holidays in their childhood and had never returned as grown ups. The weekend brings lots of memories, especially of their mother, who died soon after their last holiday there.
Driving back to Paris, Melanie suddenly remembers something that has been tormenting her the whole time at the Island, and she ends up crashing the car and suffering serious injuries – while Antoine gets only some minor scratches – and when she wakes up in the hospital, she cannot remember what it was, leaving Antoine more intrigued.
Sarah’s Key
Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
In July 1942, in Paris, the French police is arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night, on what was called “Vel’d’Hiv Roundup”. A 10 y.o. girl, Sarah, hides her little brother in the cupboard just before she and her parents are taken, and she promises him she will come back very soon. But they are taken to concentration camps – first the men, then the women and then the children. In the camp, Sarah befriends with another girl, Rachel, and they manage to escape with one of the guard’s help. They end up in a farm, where the couple who lives there helps them. Sarah is able to go back to her old apartment (now occupied by another family), but when she unlocks the cupboard she finds only the remains of her brother’s body. She goes on with her life, but never recovers from what happened.
