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ST. MARTIN’S, 2007
(available in paperback from St. Martin’s, 2008)
THE INSISTENT pounding on their apartment door at 26 rue de Saintonge signals the beginning of the end of ten-year-old Sarah’s family. The year is 1942, and the French police are rounding up Jews in Paris, under order from the Nazis. Terrified, Sarah locks her four-year-old brother, Michel, in a cabinet, instructing him to stay quiet and promising to return. Sarah and her parents, along with thousands of others, are herded to the Vélodrome d’Hiver, or Vel’ d’Hiv’, an indoor bicycle racing stadium, where they huddle for days in squalid conditions. All the while, Sarah fingers the key in her pocket, waiting for the moment she can keep her promise to her brother. But when the police order the Jews onto cattle cars that will take them to transit stations outside Paris—the antechambers to Auschwitz—Sarah begins to lose hope that she will ever see her brother again.
Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in Paris, receives a story assignment from her editor: the sixtieth-year commemoration of the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup. As she delves into this tragic chapter in French history, little known or talked about in Paris, Julia finds evidence linking her husband’s family to the events at 26 rue de Saintonge sixty years earlier. In increasing despair over the atrocities visited on Jewish families long ago and her current marital problems, Julia becomes determined to uncover Sarah’s fate.
Alternating between Sarah’s story in 1942 and Julia’s in 2002, Sarah’s Key paints a vivid portrait of the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup as experienced by one family, and explores the effects of secrecy and silence on a family and a nation.
In the final scene of Sarah’s Key, Julia shares Amadeus cheesecake—which she calls “positively diabolical”—with a relative of Sarah’s in a New York City café. Fittingly, Sandy Oato chose cheesecake to top off her Sarah’s Key menu for the women of Morsels for the Mind in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Oato added fresh berries, recalling the scene in the book in which Sarah and her friend find a thicket of berries and gorge themselves.
Oato served a low-carbohydrate cheesecake from Kraft Foods, which called for sugar substitute and a ground-almond crust. We provide here a cheesecake recipe, adapted from the Kraft Foods recipe for Classic Cheesecake, with a traditional crumb crust, along with instructions for the low-carbohydrate version enjoyed by Morsels for the Mind.
NOTE: For a low-carbohydrate version, replace the graham-cracker crust with an almond base: Spray bottom of a springform pan with cooking spray. In a spice grinder or the small bowl of a food processor, finely grind ¾ cup sliced almonds (you should have about ½ cup of ground almonds). Sprinkle ground almonds evenly in bottom of prepared pan. Proceed to step 3. When ready to serve, remove sides of pan and cut slices. (If using an almond crust, do not try to remove cake from the base.) To further reduce carbohydrates, replace the 1 cup of sugar in the filling with ½ cup sugar substitute, such as Splenda.
To avoid overbaking, check for doneness at the minimum baking time by gently shaking the pan. If the cheesecake is done, the edge should be slightly puffed and it will be set except for a 2- to 3-inch area in the center that will be soft and jiggly. Do not insert a knife into the center as this may cause the cheesecake to crack during cooling.
Allow cheesecake to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Have a pitcher of hot tap water nearby when cutting the cake. To cut neat pieces, dip the blade of the knife into the water and wipe it clean after each cut.
To freeze: After cheesecake is fully cooled, remove sides of pan. Wrap in plastic wrap and then with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place in freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
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8 full graham-cracker sheets 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons butter, melted, plus additional 1 tablespoon melted butter for greasing pan |
For the filling 38-ounce packages Neufchâtel cheese, at room temperature 28-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup sour cream 4 large eggs 3 cups mixed fresh berries, for topping |
Preheat oven to 325°F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan (or to 300°F if using a dark nonstick 9-inch springform pan). Brush bottom and side of pan with most of the 1 tablespoon of melted butter, leaving the rest for step 4.
To make the crust: Break graham crackers into rough pieces, and process them into fine crumbs in the small bowl of a food processor. (You should have about 1 cup of crumbs.) Thoroughly mix together crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom of pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while making filling.
To make the filling: Beat Neufchâtel, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl of electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and well blended, about 5 minutes. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended.
Brush side of springform pan with remaining melted butter. Pour filling into cooled crust. Bake for 60–70 minutes, or until center is almost set (see note).
Transfer cake to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake. Allow to cool for 2–3 hours, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. (Cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
To unmold cheesecake, remove side of pan. Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, and slide cake onto serving plate. Let cheesecake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes (see note). Cut into wedges (see note), top with berries, and serve. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.
Yield: One 9-inch cake, 12 to 16 servings
(See photo insert.)
The Cover to Cover Girls Book Club of Lake County, Florida, savored quiche along with a special French cocktail, Kir Royale, when discussing Sarah’s Key. A blend of champagne and crème de cassis—a French fruit liqueur made from black currant berries—the Kir Royale cocktail originated in the Burgundy region of France in the mid-1900s, when Dijon mayor Félix Kir lent his name to the popular concoction. Now, the crisp, refreshing, elegant drink is served at celebrations and special occasions throughout France and the world. In Sarah’s Key, Julia and her husband, Bertrand, order Kir Royale cocktails at Thoumieux, their favorite restaurant in Paris, when Julia has important news to share with Bertrand. The hostess used French champagne to make the cocktails, and member Sandra Stone calls them “a hit” with the group. “The Kir Royale cocktails and quiche brought us out of our American selves a little bit,” says Stone.
NOTE: Sparkling white wine may be used in place of champagne.
Chill champagne flutes by filling with ice and water for a couple of minutes, or by placing in refrigerator or freezer for a few hours ahead of time.
The ratio of crème de cassis to champagne varies among recipes, but we prefer 1 part cassis to 5 parts champagne. Adjust the amount of cassis to your taste.
Crème de cassis (1–2 tablespoons or 15–30 ml) Champagne (about 6 ounces or 150 ml) |
Pour crème de cassis into a chilled champagne flute. Slowly fill glass with champagne, and serve.
Yield: 1 drink
The ten women of the Book at Hand Club in Las Colinas, Texas, were surprised that members of the group, which includes women of different generations and one from England, had not previously known about the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup described in Sarah’s Key. “We had read and discussed books related to the Holocaust, so we had trouble understanding why none of us had heard of this incident,” says Judy Macri. The author’s ability to weave together two separate stories impressed the group, winning over “even people in the group who usually find this format difficult to follow,” says Macri. One member, Judy Tolosa, brought a photograph of a friend—Dicky Ehrlich, a Holocaust survivor—who had endured in real life some of what Sarah experienced in the book. According to Tolosa, Dicky was taken into a theater in Amsterdam with her parents, where they stayed for days without food before being transported to another camp. ”There was a boy in the theater who tried to get Dicky out through a window, but Dicky refused to leave her parents. Both of her parents died in the first prison camp in which they were kept. Dicky survived eight further camps before finally being liberated from Auschwitz by the Americans at the end of World War II,” says Tolosa.
More Food for Thought
Morsels for the Mind of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been serving food connected to the theme of the book since the group’s inception in 1991. For Sarah’s Key, hostess Sandy Oato served dishes representing some of the ethnicities in the book: Polish pierogies (dumplings), Jewish challah bread, French wine, limoncello (which Julia’s friends Hervé and Christophe serve to their dinner guests), and crudités, and from New York, cheesecake with berries (see recipe). “We enjoyed getting a little taste of the various cultures that were featured in the book,” says member Laura Lewakowski.
The twelve members of Novels and Nibbles in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, feasted on traditional Jewish foods—apple cake and matzo crackers—to honor Sarah’s ethnic origins, when they discussed Sarah’s Key. Discussion focused on the difficulties Sarah endured, and members speculated on how they might respond to similar challenges. “We wondered if we would have been strong enough to survive,” says member Nanci O’Leary. In place of candles, the group lit a menorah, a Jewish symbol of survival and endurance traditionally lit at Hanukkah.
