Sarah’s Key

Bertrand enters the bathroom with Julia’s file on Sarah in his hand. He demands to know why she keeps searching. Julia tells him to ask his father, Edouard.

“He stepped back to stroke my cheek softly,” she says; “Julia, what happened to us? Where did it all go?” he asks (207). 

A few hours before Julia departs to America, she calls Edouard. He asks why Sarah stopped writing. She doesn’t know, but says she will find out. 

Charla, her sister, picks up Julia from the airport. Charla has an athlete’s build and she constantly takes calls on her cell on the way home.

When home, Julia reveals the whole story to Charla. “You’ve come here for her, right?” Charla asks (210). Charla grabs the phone and asks the operator to find a Richard J. Rainsferd. There’s one living in a Connecticut—a Mr. and Mrs. Rainsferd.

Charla calls the couple, pretending to be someone from town, and inquires about whether they are home. She learns that Richard Rainsferd is sick, bedridden, and that Mrs. Rainsferd was out but is due home.

Julia wonders if she should just go there. 

Julia drives to Connecticut to see if it is really Sarah Starzynski. Roxbury is a wealthy neighborhood, and Julia arrives in only a couple of hours.

She walked up to the doorand is about to back away when Ornella Harris, Mrs. Rainsferd’s daughter, comes up behind her. She invites Julia to wait for Mrs. Rainsferd next door with her. She thinks that Julia is a friend of their Uncle Lorenzo from Europe.

Mrs. Rainsferd comes back home. Ornella introduces them. She has dark eyes, not blue eyes. Julia thinks, “This was not Sarah Starzynski. That much I knew” (217).

Mrs. Rainsferd is not Sarah, but rather is Mr. Rainsferd’s second wife. She is of Italian descent, and reveals that Sarah died in 1972, in a car crash at the age of forty. Julia is devastated.

Mrs. Rainsferd reveals, also, that Sarah and Mr. Rainsferd had a son, William. Julia wants to see him. William lives in Italy with his wife. Julia asks for the address.

Julia phones Joshua to ask for an advance on her pay, so she can travel to Tuscany. He agrees. Julia feels bad for asking Zoë to leave her relatives so soon but thinks that maybe she’ll be excited to go to Italy.

Charla discourages Julia from travelling so much with the baby: “You’re pregnant, don’t forget. I’m not sure all this traveling is the right thing to do at the moment” (222). Julia’s mind is made up, however.

William is in a small town between Florence and Pisa, called Lucca. He is aware “that a Julia Jarmond was going to call him. That’s all he knew” (224). 

Julia and Zoë drive toward Lucca in their rented Fiat. Zoë reads about the tourist attractions in town. As they approach Lucca, Julia experiences an odd pain in her stomach that she does not like.

She looks at Zoë, knowing she wants to make this trip memorable for her. 

Julia lays down at the hotel in Lucca. She feels guilty for leaving her parents and the U.S. so quickly. She decides not to reveal everything to her parents and Zoë at the moment.

Julia is scared to phone William. Zoë tells her that she has talked to her grandfather about their trip. Julia is impressed. She thinks, “So Edouard knew. He knew I was pregnant. He had spoken to Bertrand. There had probably been a long talk between father and son” (229).

Zoë encourages Julia to leave a message for William. Julia does just that.

Julia and Zoë have dinner out. When they return home, there’s a note pinned to the door: “Per favore telefonare William Rainsferd” (231). Julia calls him back. They make plans to meet the next day before lunch, near the Palazzo Mansi.

Julia wakes up with the same pain in her stomach again. She’s nervous about meeting William. She and Zoë walk around the walls of the city to the café nearby.

William, “a tall, thickset man in his mid-forties,” introduces himself (234). He is amiable and encourages Zoë to have some tiramisu.

He asks what Julia wants with him. Julia explains that she is moving into the apartment owned by his mother, before the tragic events. “What do you mean by tragic events?” he asks (235). She explains a bit about the roundup and the people sent to the death camps. William still does not understand how this relates to his mother.

They agree that they are both talking about a Sarah Dufaure, but William does not know any of these things she mentions.

Zoë shows him a photo of Sarah as a girl, the star pinned to her chest. 

Julia tries to comprehend how it could be possible for Sarah to have kept her past life a secret for all those years. She doesn’t want to even tell William, at this point, and William doesn’t want to know. She tells him that she thought he knew about this. “I don’t want to know. Keep the ‘whole story’ to yourself” he replies (239). Visibly upset, he leaves, not willing to hear any more of Julia’s story about his mother.

Julia looks down. Her “white skirt was soaked with blood” (240). She screams, “The baby,” and Zoë finally learns the truth (240). Julia passes out. 

Julia wakes up in a hospital room with Zoë. She learns that everything is okay, and the baby will be fine. Zoë has called Bertrand. Julia cries.

Bertrand arrives and comforts them, while never mentioning anything about Sarah or the baby inside of Julia. 

Julia is bedridden in Paris. She works from home and has occasional visitors. Edouard comes to visit once a week with pink flowers. He wishes that they had thought about the possibility that William did not know anything.

Julia wants to have a party. The doctor agrees to let her. Gaspard and Nicolas Dufaur come to meet Edouard. They talk about Sarah and share photographs. They recount some of their most precious memories of Sarah.

Bertrand arrives “like [he] were walking onto a yacht” (245).