Or Elle s’appelait Sarah [e: Her Name Was Sarah] as it is called in the original French version, is a melancholic tale about a Jewish girl, Sarah, and the effects the Holocaust has on her life.

Two stories unfold from two different time periods, and will eventually converge in an unexpected way. The first story is set in France during the German occupation in 1942. We are thrust into a little apartment of a girl named Sarah. She is awakened by a loud pounding on the front door. She goes to her mother, who opens the door, and they are told that they are leaving and that they ought to collect some belongings.

As Sarah quietly retreats back to her bedroom, we meet her younger brother, Michel, who sits in a cupboard in the wall. It is their special hiding space. He tells her that he will stay behind and hide, that he will be safe. Quickly, Sarah agrees by locking him in the wall of the apartment, shielding him from the terrors she is about to witness and with this single act exposing him to other terrors she will never know.

Her family then begins their dark and horrific journey to Auschwitz.

Interspersed between Sarah’s story, we meet in present day Paris, Julia Jarmond. An American expat journalist living in Paris, Julia’s marriage to her husband is strained and she feels something is missing in her life. Then she is given the chance to write about Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup, since the 60th Anniversary of this tragic time is coming up. Through her research, Julia stumbles upon Sarah’s story and also upon the history of her husband’s family apartment.

She feels a compulsion to remember. To unearth all the memories and secrets from the past. To somehow make sense of Sarah’s story and what became of her. And its through Sarah that Julia finds what has been missing in her life.

The beginning of this book draws you in, gets your heart pounding, and makes you clench the pages tighter as you read through Sarah’s story. There is a heaviness that accompanies Tatiana de Rosnay’s writing on the subject matter. It is good there is the lightheartedness of Julia’s rather ‘ordinary,’ story in comparison to break up the flashbacks.

The writing is descriptive and the word choice is deliberate. The sections are short and this is a book that can quickly be devoured. I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of past and present. It might seem like a method of writing done many times, but this story is wholly unique.

I give it four stars and high praise. I recommend for anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction or fiction that shows how the past informs the present and the future.

Anyone else out there read Sarah’s Key or Elle s’appelait Sarah? What about other reading recommendations from the WW2 era? I have quite a few on my TBR list that need read, but am always open to hearing recommendations. 🙂

Until next time bookish buds!

As you can see from the title, I finished two reads this past week and am super excited about it! Normally I only have time to finish one in a week, if I am even that lucky. Balancing hobbies with adult responsibilities can be a challenge, especially around the holiday season, am I right?

Luckily I am a planner, and 95% of my Christmas shopping is done-zo! *crosses oneself and points heavenward* Thank God, because I am really not a shopper. Unless its for books, hah. So all that is left is the dreaded wrapping. *stares dramatically into the camera like from The Office* Good thing most of my friends live far away so the gifts/cards they receive don’t have my “specially” wrapped look to them. 😉

Anyway, I am really happy that I finished these two books! Not because I wanted them to end, no they were both great reads, but because they put me on track to finish my Goodreads Challenge for the year. I have yet to complete one, but this year, I am determined to slay this beast. Only 4 (somehow it counted one of my DNF’s) left to go & victory will be mine!

Wow, I am busting out all the cliche’s this morning. I suppose that is what happens when I have four cups of coffee [d: koffie] with breakfast [d: ontbijt].

Back to the focus of this post. My last two reads were Neil Gaiman’s, Neverwhere, and Simone St. James’, The Broken Girls. 

Neverwhere was recommended to me by two lovely, bookish friends. And I can say they were so right in getting me to bump this one up on my list. It’s definitely a dark, and gothic-esque read, perfect for this time of year when its dark more than its like.

Neverwhere tells the story of Richard, an ordinary man from London Above, who accidentally stumbles upon the world of London Below by simply helping one of its inhabitants, Door. Richard finds himself on an unlikely quest with unlikely companions that take him places that someone from the world above could only dream about.

Told in exquisite detail, Gaiman fails to disappoint readers. His world building capabilities blow me away. Only he could have readers confused, intrigued, and able to comprehend the world he presents all at the same time. His way with words paints vivid images and stirs up strong emotions in readers, and Neverwhere is no exception to this ability. I easily gave it a four star rating, and hope one day we get a sequel.

The second read, was a buddy read with my go-to reading buddy. When she came to visit this past summer, I somehow got an extra box from Book of the Month, and decided to give her the extra books since I had doubles of two books.

One was The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. Since we’ve plowed through the Outlander books we both have, we decided to try for something different this time. Our fifth buddy read, this one surprised us both! We read it in a record breaking four days.

The Broken Girls has a little bit of everything sprinkled into it; from WW2 history, to breaking through sexism of the 1950s, a modern day murder mystery that still hangs over a town as though partially left unsolved, and a supernatural element that haunts both the past and the present. It sounds a little overwhelming and disjointed, like it wouldn’t work right? Somehow Simone St. James manages to weave all of these elements together to create a gripping and unique tale.

This story is a sad yet poignant tale of girls whom society wronged and whom Simone St. James gives a voice to while kindly laying those truly broken girls to rest. It is a fast paced, well written tale, one that I gave a four star rating to and would highly recommend.

As we continue to move through the weekend, what is everyone else up to? Reading? Prepping the holiday snowfall of activity that will eventually descend? 

I’m not feeling the greatest so just catching up on blog posts and reading my latest Netgalley read that has a Tuesday pub date!

Until next time friends [d: vrienden]!