It’s the summer of 1942 in Paris. Sarah is ten years old when officers come to her family’s apartment telling them that they must come with them and leave their home. Sarah is completely vulnerable as she has no idea why this is happening, and in the heat of the moment, she tells her brother to stay in the cupboard, locking him inside. The issue that Sarah's soon comes to realize is that her brother has no food and water and he has no way to get out and the key that Sarah holds will not be able to make it to help him. Sarah can’t unlock the door to the cupboard because she is miles outside of Paris in a concentration camp watching the horrors of the way people around her are being treated. The story follows her life after as she deals with the aftermath.
Then, 60 years later Julia Jarmond who works as an American journalist living in France, is exploring the story of the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup that Sarah was involved in. As Julia explores the story she realizes that Sarah and her are a lot more similar than she thought. However, while Julia deals with the horrors of realizing the reality of the roundup, she is dealing with her own personal complications. She is in a struggling marriage and when she finds out she is pregnant and her husband doesn’t want the baby, Julia has to make some very difficult decisions while at the same time writing the story of Sarah.
This heart wrenching story was written masterfully. In all honesty, Tatiana De Rosnay wrote this story in such a way that someone can’t put this book down. I really enjoyed the different perspectives of the book as it really made the story complete, and it was very interesting when the two stories came together. I picked this book up off the shelf, looking for a book to get me out of a reading rut and it truly did. I would recommend this book to any fan of historical fiction or realistic fiction. Overall, such a great read!