This is Tatiana De Rosnay who is British and French

She wrote our last book " Sarah's Key" which was

chosen by Donna Smith and which turned out to

be enjoyed by all who were present at the discussion last night.

We gathered at my house to share pizza, salad and a birthday

cake for the December girls who are Madeleine, Betsy and Diane

who joined the group by skype from her warm Florida condo.

Others who attended were Kathy, Julie, Sarah,

Donna S., Donna R. and Carol.

The book has 2 parallel stories about the July 16, 1942 roundup

of 13000 Jewish people taken to the Velodrome de Hiver in Paris,

treated inhumanely and eventually sent to death camps. One story is

from the view point of a child named Sarah who is a victim who

locks her younger brother in a closet for safekeeping. The other

story is from the viewpoint of an American reporter, Julia Jarmond

who is investigating the incident 60 years later. The 2 stories

come together quite seamlessly in the end but we do miss

the voice of the young girl in the 2nd half of the book.

What we learned was that eventualy 76000 Jews were killed

in France and that the French people chose to cover up the

shameful incident though they were under Nazi occupation and

only recently have markers and monuments been put in place.

"We Should Never Forget" is the admonishment of the author

to us readers.

Kathy chose the book "Scottsboro" by Ellen Feldman

which we discovered is available at the library and Amazon.com

for a mere penny plus $3.99 shipping.

We decided to wait till February 9th , 2011 as this is a

fairly large book and allowing 2 months will give us time.

Kathy says not to skip the prologue for there lies the meat

of the story. Happy reading to all and stay warm.