When I was walking around the table at the local warehouse store, the cover of this book caught my eye. I read the review on the front cover and the description on the back and decided to buy a copy. I was looking for books to take on vacation with me.

I was totally surprised with the quality of writing and the story that Tatiana de Rosnay wove about a very little known part of French history. The first half of the book is two stories that are interwoven with each other. The commonality that they share is the location in which they take place. One story takes place in 1942 as the French Police round up the Jews living in Paris. Sarah, who is 10, locks her younger brother in a secret cupboard with promise to return in a couple of hours to free him. They are unaware of what is really going on. The other story is about Julia Jarmond, an American Journalist, who is researching the round up. Julia’s research brings her to discover a secret that her husband’s family has been living with for the past 60 years.

This book will hunt you and you will remember it and the stories that it tells. It very artfully tells the horror that happened to many who did not survive but also how it effected those who did.

This is a must read.

Posted by Helen in Book Reviews on January 29th, 2010 |