How is suspense used in Sarah's Key?

From beginning to end, a powerful sense of suspense drives the plot of Tatiana de Rosnay’s “Sarah’s Key”. Whether the character is involved directly in the events surrounding the Velodrome d’Hiver roundup in July of 1942, or on a quest for historical and personal truths sixty years later, Rosnay leaves the reader equally eager to discover the outcome of events. Two types of suspense dominate “Sarah’s Key”: the suspense of survival and the suspense of discovery.

When the roundup happens, Sarah locks her four-year-old brother Michael in a hidden cupboard thinking to return soon and let him out. Her parents have not explained what happens when Jews are taken away from home. Her brother has water, toys, and a little food, but he is otherwise trapped without a way for anyone to easily find him. If he does not get out of the cupboard, he will surely die. The suspense surrounding Micheal’s survival is an intense and unforgettable factor throughout the first 150 pages of the novel.

The question of Sarah’s fate is another aspect of suspense in “Sarah’s Key”. The author presents the main protagonist with several opportunities to escape and save her brother. Of the first chance Rosnay writes, “She thought of her little brother in the cupboard, waiting. She fingered the smooth key in her pocket. She could go with this fast, clever boy. She could save her brother, and herself” (31).

This is a powerful moment of suspense for both Sarah and the reader, but in the end fear prevails and she does not follow the boy to freedom. Rosnay draws out the question of Sarah’s escape as she suffers the horrors of familial separation and the abusive conditions of a concentration camp. When Sarah finally gets away with the help of a fellow detainee and a compassionate soldier, the suspense of whether or not she will be captured before finding safety (and getting back to her brother) is palpable.

The third factor of suspense in “Sarah’s Key” is based around the character of Julia Jarmond. The reader follows this 21st century reporter’s first person account of investigating the history of the Vel d’Hiv roundup. Julia becomes personally involved when she inherits an old apartment from her in-laws. After questioning her husband’s grandmother about Paris in July of 1942, Julia discovers that a Jewish family lived in the apartment before the night of the roundup. Even though her in-laws are adamant in their reluctance to speak about the Vel d’Hiv, Julia manages to identify the former residents of the apartment, but this only adds to her questions. Jarmond joins the reader in asking, “Sarah Starzynski. Was she still alive?” (133). The apartment is a symbol of suspense that links these characters across time and ultimately leads to the answers Julia seeks. Julia’s journey to discover the connections between the Tezac and Starzynski family is another way Rosnay uses suspense in this moving work of historical fiction.

Source: Rosnay, Tatiana De. Sarah's Key. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007. Print.