#sarahskey — Public Fediverse posts

When the History Is More Interesting Than the Novel

There is a particular kind of reading experience I find fascinating: when a book makes you curious about something that exists beyond the main plotline of the book itself.

That happened to me with Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

The novel moves between occupied Paris in 1942 and contemporary France, connecting a present-day journalist with the story of a young Jewish girl caught up in the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup. It is a story about loss, memory, family secrets and the things people choose to remember or forget.

I found myself thinking beyond the fictional characters. I wanted to know more about the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup itself.

Thousands of people were arrested in Paris. Families were taken from their homes. Children were caught up in the arrests. Thousands were held inside a sports stadium before being sent to camps. French authorities played a major role in the operation, and France would spend decades coming to terms with its own involvement.

There was so much history packed into the novel that I found myself following it beyond the pages. At some point, I realised that I was reading a novel but following my own historical rabbit hole.

The book had taken me somewhere I hadn’t expected to go, and I became increasingly interested in what I was finding there.

I didn’t love Sarah’s Key. I didn’t hate it either. But the history stayed with me in a way the fictional storyline didn’t.

What began as a novel about one girl’s experience became, for me, a much deeper dive into the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup, French collaboration during the Holocaust, and the complicated history of remembering what happened.

Read the full essay on Medium →