Magpie
Do you see any problem with the Tezacs moving into the apartment vacated by the girls family? Knowing what happened 60+ years earlier, would you live in the remodeled apartment?
How does the apartment on la rue de Saintonge unite the past and present action—and all the characters—in Sarah’s Key? In what ways is the apartment a character all its own in?
Do you see any problem with the Tezacs moving into the apartment vacated by the girls family? Knowing what happened 60+ years earlier, would you live in the remodeled apartment?
Revealing family secrets can be very healing or very damaging. Do you think it would have been better if Julia left her family secret alone? What is the difference between keeping a family secret and a country keeping its secrets/history quiet?
Did Mame remember what had happened? Or was she becoming agitated because of the Dementia?
By page 79 the girl begins to see what the reader sees, she has become someone else. Why is it just now that she sees it?
On page 80 the girl describes the children following her like bedraggled sparrows. Some folklore uses sparrows as an omen of death or the catcher of lost souls. Do you think the author chose this bird specifically because of this?
What ways does the girl show a great deal of courage and strength while at the children’s camp? (p. 81 with haircut and staring at red head guard, p90 when caught)
On page 84 Julia comments on a space in the apartment as being a “good hiding place. If these walls could talk…” But she says she didn’t need them to because she knew what happened here…..do you feel like the author is baiting you with a line like this?
de Rosnay’s novel is built around several “key” secrets which Julia will unearth. Discuss the element of mystery in these pages. What types of narrative devices did the author use to keep the keep the reader guessing?
Does de Rosnay make Bertrand so “French” so it is easier to dislike him?
When the girl and Rachel are caught do you think the guard would have let any other child go? Do you think he let her go because he knew her or because she was so calm and mature, or because of his guilt? If Julia could interview the man for her story what would he say?
On page 103 we see a hopeful Julia prepare to tell Bertrand about the baby. As the reader are you as hopeful as Julia about his reaction or do you worry that she doesn’t know her husband all that well?
When you learn all of Bertrand’s reasons for not wanting the baby he says it won’t fit into “our” life. Do you believe him or is it really more about him?
On pages 116 Julia learns the children who had been left behind were mixed with other adults as to not raise suspicion, but we learn on page 144 the locals could hear the “roaring” of the mothers being separated from their children. Do you think the authorities plan worked?
On page 118 the girl finally gives her name “Sirka”, why now does the reader get her name?
Again, Sirka thinks of her brother while being cared from by Genevieve and believes he would be with her where she could care for him if she hadn’t hidden him. As the reader are you as confident as she?
As Julia requests information from Monsieur Levy about the family in her apartment he is careful to reveal information to her as he feels protective of the people’s identity he has collected. He reminds her that “Truth is harder than ignorance”. Is he right? Is Julia ready for everything that we as a reader already knows? (p124)
On page 132 Sirka tells Genevieve that her adult name is Sarah. Why this change?
During the trip to Drancy the reader learns again of two places where the events of the past are ignored, the train station and the actual camp. Is de Rosnay using these events as a call to action for the reader?
While discussing the baby, Bertrand calls it a seed and not even a human yet. Setting aside personal viewpoints on the point when life starts, is de Rosnay using the baby as a metaphor for how easily many people ignored the humanity of the Jews?
Genevieve and Jules have shown great kindness in caring for Sarah, does this give you hope for her as you continue to read?
Discuss how Sarah’s quest for her brother and Julia’s quest for the truth connect them and make them stronger.
At the end of page 146 Julia thinks about Sarah and what it was like walking for she and the other children to walk to their “solitary deaths”. How does this make you feel? Does it call to mind the likely death of Michael?
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