Pages: 293 Genre: Fiction based off the Vel' d'Hiv
The story is told for most of the book between two characters: The Girl and Julia. It goes back and forth between the summer of 1942 and present day. I really liked this book. It was beautifully written and was very touching. It talks about the Vel 'd'Hiv in Paris. I had never heard of the Vel d'Hiv but it is incredibly sad. The French police rounded up as many French Jews as they could find, put them into a stadium with hardly and food or water, then shipped them to concentration camps located outside of Paris before being shipped off to Auschwitz. They arrested 13,152 victims and according to the book (now this part I don't know if it is fact or fiction) killed all the children that didn't manage to escape (very few did). It is an incredibly heart wrenching story. The book is told from The Girl's point of view in 1942, she locked her brother in a cupboard so he doesn't get taken by the police and spends her half of the story trying to get back to him. Julia's story is set present day as she is getting ready to move into the apartment (which has been in her husband's family for years). Julia is an American journalist who is living in Paris (for more than half her life) and she is researching the Vel d'Hiv for an article where she discovers The Girl's story, and how she can set about finding more information about it.
This really is a wonderful story and I would recommend it to anybody. I am glad to have finally read a great book this summer. It's the first good book I've read in awhile. Enjoy!
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