Sarah’s Key

Bertrand postpones the move, but he and Julia are only amiable to one another. They don’t talk about anything important. She wonders what life is like for Bertrand now.

Then she wonders about William, and what he did with the news about his grandmother.

Julia is in the nearly-ready apartment, wondering how she can live where Sarah once did. The phone rings. It’s the nursing home. Mamé has had a stroke.

Julia laments Mamé and cannot reach Bertrand. She tries her sisters-in-law. They know that Bertrand was seeing Amélie, his ex. Julia feels frustrated that she didn’t know this was happening.

William knocks on the door. “I need to talk to you,” he says (252). He explains that he flew back to the States to see his dad. His dad had a key from his grandmother in a drawer, along with a drawing of Michel, Sarah’s brother, with some French scribbled.

Julia asks him to come along to Mamé’s, saying, “There’s someone I want you to see” (254). 

In the hospital room, Mamé is recovering, but not expected to live very long. Edouard inquires about William and says that he wants to meet him: “Sarah Starzynski’s son,” he announces to the room (256).