Sarah’s Key

Sarah and the old couple arrive at the rue de Saintonge, and Sarah immediately darts up the stairs toward her apartment. Madame Royer laughs when the old couple inquires about the Starzynski family. “Gone, Monsieur! Vanished!” she shouts (159).

Sarah finds a young boy who lives in her apartment. She rushes past him and forces her way into the apartment. The boy and his family rush after her. She manages to reach the cupboard with her little brother and unlock it: “In the back of the cupboard, she glimpsed the small lump of a motionless, curled-up body, then she saw the beloved little face, blackened, unrecognizable” (160). 

Edouard Tézac relates the same story to Julia from his perspective. His father took the little boy out of the cupboard and handled the burial. Sarah hated them for what happened.

His father wanted to keep it a secret from Mamé, so he never spoke about it. This infuriated Edouard.

Edouard and Julia agree to research Sarah more, and they find themselves bonding for the first time over the prospect and this shared story: “We were sharing this […] we kept looking at each other, and smiling” (166).

Edouard goes to see if there’s any information in his father’s old papers. 

For the first time, the story doesn’t shift back in time. Julia consults with her doctor about making appointments to have an abortion. The doctor isn’t sure Julia is ready. Neither is Julia: “I realized I wanted this child for myself” (167).

She discusses the matter with her friends. The decision is hers, which makes it even harder for her.

When she arrives home, there’s an envelope with her “initials scrawled in blue ink” (169). It’s the file on Sarah, from Edouard.

Julia opens the file, which contains letters and photos. She learns that Edouard’s father was sending money each month for Sarah to the Dufaures. Zoë walks in on Julia looking at the photos of Sarah.

Julia opens up to Zoë about the case. She hopes that she will be able to find out more about Sarah. 

It’s Tuesday, July 16, 2002, the date ofthe Vel’ d’Hiv’ commemoration. It’s also the date of Julia’s abortion. Zoë leaves for Long Island. Julia reminisces about trips together to her in-laws and the pool.

Though she loves France, she misses America, and thinks of it as home. 

Julia sits in the clinic, waiting for her abortion. She’s glad Bertrand is not there. She recalls a phone call earlier, to a Nathalie Dufaure, where she inquired about Gaspard and Sarah.

Nathalie says that Gaspard is her grandfather, and that she will call him to ask about Sarah. Nathalie then promises to call Julia back about the conversation.

Julia can hardly wait. The phone rings. It’s Bertrand. She feels “disappointment jab [her] nerves” (179). 

Julia waits in the hospital room for the nurses to bring her into the operation room. She watches news coverage of the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup.

There’s two voicemails on her cell phone, one from Bertrand, and a new, second one from Nathalie: “She had good news: her grandfather was intent on meeting [her],” and says that he will tell all about Sarah (181).

Julia realizes in that moment that she cannot go through with the abortion. She is “going to have this baby” (183). She rushes out of the hospital. 

Julia arrives at the centennial with Guillaume. She looks around, wondering if Sarah is somewhere in the audience. She speaks to Frank Lévy and a few other journalists.

Soon, she will be meeting “Nathalie Dufaure in front of the Pasteur métro station” (185). As she arrives home, she wonders how Bertrand will take the news about the abortion.

When Julia gets back from Orléans, she calls Charla, her sister, and reveals the news about keeping the baby. Charla is overjoyed. “I’m proud of you, honey” she says (187). 

Julia recounts her meeting with Gaspard and Nathalie. Gaspard recalls Sarah as “a lovely, melancholy young girl,” who hated Paris, vowing never to go back there (189).

Nathalie inquires about what happened to Sarah’s brother. They decide not to tell her about that at the moment.

Julia wants to know how to find Sarah. Gaspard wants to know why it is important for her to do so. 

Zoë calls from Long Islandand asks about Julia’s progress on Sarah. Julia plans to come to the States in a week. She reveals that “Sarah left France in 1952 for New York City, to become a nanny for an American family” (191).

She recalls finishing her conversation with Gaspardand telling him the whole story of why it mattered to her. 

Gaspard tells Julia the story about Sarah. She left France in 1952 for America because it had not “been touched directly by the Holocaust” (193). Then, all he knows is that Sarah wrote some letters saying that she was getting married. She then disappeared.

He urges Julia to find Sarah.

There’s a letter that Gaspard’s grandmother, Genevieve, wrote to Alain, his father. Julia shares the letter.

The grandmother describes the hardships that Sarah endured. Though she is only fourteen, “she is like a woman, a bitter woman” (196). They visit the areas where people return from the camps, but they already know that her parents are dead. She pities those that have to live in this “new France” (197).

Joshua, Julia’s boss, calls her cell phone. He congratulates her on the story in the paper. He’s curious, however, why she didn’t question the police from back then. She wonders the same thing.

He encourages her to take some time off.

Nathalie calls Julia to say that she found Sarah’s card: “The card she sent to say she was getting married, the last card. She gives the name of her husband” (200). His name is Richard J. Rainsferd. That’s all she has.

Julia phones Charla, who agrees to help her try to find Sarah and the man.

Before she hangs up, Bertrand returns home.