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PAPERBACK

Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island , where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach.  It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island—over thirty years, since their mother died and the family holidays ceased.  But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer.  When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.

Trapped in the wake of a family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with his own children.  How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself?  Suddenly fragile on all fronts – as a son, a husband, a brother and a father – Antoine Rey will soon learn the shocking truth about his family and himself.

By turns thrilling and seductive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family and the invisible ties that hold it together.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sarah’s Key and A Secret Kept comes an absorbing new novel about one woman’s resistance during an époque that shook Paris to its very core. Paris, France: 1860’s. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a “modern city.” The reforms will erase generations of history—but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.
 Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years. The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman’s indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls...

Product Details
Paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (2007)
Language: English

Paris, July 1942: The French police brutally arrest ten year-old Sarah and her family in the Vel d Hiv roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard thinking that she ll be back in a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel d Hiv s 60th anniversary, Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France s past. She stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Paris, julio de 1942. Las autoridades arrestan a 13.000 judíos ante la mirada de los parisinos, que guardan silencio por miedo, indiferencia o simple interes, pues esperan ocupar las viviendas vacias. El pequeño Michel se oculta en un armario para huir de la redada. Su hermana Sarah cierra la puerta para protegerle y se guarda la llave, pensando que va a regresar en unas horas. Sin embargo, el destino de los Starzynski es protagonizar una de las paginas mas luctuosas de la historia gala. Los gendarmes confinan a los miles de detenidos durante cinco dias en el Velodromo de Invierno, cerca de la Torre Eiffel, sin comida ni agua. Despues envian a las familias a un campo de concentracion frances, donde los separan como paso previo a su posterior traslado a Auschwitz. Paris, mayo de 2002. Julia Jarmond, una periodista norteamericana afincada en Francia desde hace veinte años, recibe el encargo de preparar un reportaje con ocasion del sexagesimo aniversario de la redada. La reportera reconstruye el itinerario de los Starzynski y la lucha denodada de Sarah por salvar a su hermano, pero lo último que puede imaginar es que la investigación le conduzca hasta los Tezac, la familia de su marido. La epopeya de la niña judia sera un ejemplo a seguir para Julia y para quienes han vivido marcados por el peso de la culpa. La llave de Sarah abre, entre otras cosas, la puerta de la redencion. Tatiana de Rosnay nacio en Paris y tiene raices inglesas, francesas y rusas. Criada en un entorno multicultural, vivio en Estados Unidos durante su infancia y se licencio en la University of East Anglia (Norwich, Inglaterra). Es autora de nueve novelas y de diversos guiones. Tambien escribe en la revista Elle y es critica literaria de Psychologies. La llave de Sarah es la primera novela que ha escrito en ingles, su lengua materna. Actualmente vive en Paris, esta casada y tiene dos hijos.

Paris, 1860's. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris. In the midst of the tumult, Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman's indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls.

Spanish Description: Paris, decada de 1860. La ciudad esta en pleno proceso de cambio, abandonando el Paris medieval para dar paso al Paris moderno y urbano. El baron Haussmann, prefecto de la ciudad, por encargo del emperador Napoleon III llevara a cabo las grandes ideas y estrategias de esta radical reforma. Cuando Rose se caso con Armand Bazelet sabia que se unia al hombre de su vida. Su larga union fue algo hermoso e inquebrantable. Pero hace diez anos que Armand ya no esta. Y a Rose tan solo le queda la casa, la casa donde nacio Armand, y su padre, y el padre de su padre. La casa de la calle Childebert, antigua y robusta, solo habitada por generaciones de Bazelet, que ha albergado mucha felicidad y tambien tristezas, y un terrible secreto jamas confesado. Y le quedan sus vecinos, entre ellos la joven Alexandrine, capaz de aturdir y reavivar a Rose con su fuerte personalidad, sus maneras modernas y rotundas y su sincero afecto.Por eso, cuando una carta con remite Prefectura de Paris. Ayuntamiento le anuncia que su casa y todas las de la calle seran expropiadas y derribadas para continuar la prolongacion del bulevar Saint-Germain, siguiendo los planes de remodelacion de la ciudad de Pari­s del baron Haussmann, Rose solo sabe una cosa: tal como prometio a su marido, jamas abandonara la casa.

Recapturing childhood can awaken deeply-buried memories that are capable of forever changing a life. Antoine Rey cannot seem to stop replaying a recent series of dramatic events: his divorce, his dead-end job, separating from his children. His entire future blown up in smoke, he is left with only his past. Perhaps unconsciously triggered by this, for her 40th birthday, he surprises his sister Melanie with a trip to Noirmoutier Island, their childhood vacationing spot. After the worldwide success of La llave de Sarah, Tatiana de Rosnay builds, through an evocative narrative, a sweeping and moving novel where each page is softly illuminated by nostalgia and sharply shaped by intrigue.

Spanish Description: Recordar la infancia puede despertar momentos anquilosados en la mente que haran que la vida no vuelva a ser la misma. Antoine Rey no deja de darle vueltas a los ultimos y dramaticos acontecimientos que le han sucedido: su divorcio, el vacio que le produce su trabajo, el alejamiento de sus hijos. Todo su futuro se ha desvanecido, y ya solo le queda el pasado. Por esta razon, aunque de forma un poco inconsciente, regala a su hermana Melanie por su cuarenta cumpleanos un viaje al lugar donde pasaban las vacaciones en su ninez, Noirmoutier. Despues del exito mundial de La llave de Sarah, Tatiana de Rosnay construye con una sentida habilidad narrativa una novela envolvente, emotiva, en la que la nostalgia se retrata suavemente sobre los personajes en su mas tierna edad y la intriga se cincela precisa a lo largo de sus paginas.