Tatiana de Rosnay was born on September 28th, 1961 in the suburbs of Paris. She is of English, French and Russian descent.  Her father is French scientist Joël de Rosnay, and her grandfather was painter Gaëtan de Rosnay.  Tatiana’s paternal great-grandmother was Russian actress Natalia Rachewskïa, director of the Leningrad Pushkin Theatre from 1925 to 1949.

 

Tatiana’s English mother, Stella Jebb, is the daughter of diplomat Gladwyn Jebb, and  great-great-granddaughter of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the British engineer. Tatiana is also the niece of historian Hugh Thomas.  Tatiana was raised in Paris and then in Boston, when her father taught at MIT in the 70’s. She moved to England in the early 80’s and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in English literature at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich.

 

Returning to Paris in 1984, Tatiana became press attaché for Christie’s and then Paris Editor for Vanity Fair magazine till 1993. Since 1992, Tatiana has published eight novels in France.

 

Sarah’s Key is her first novel written in her mother tongue, English. The novel has been a massive New York Times bestseller, and is to be published in 22 countries around the world.  The film version of the book is currently in the making. 

 

Tatiana works as a journalist for French ELLE and is the literary critic for Psychologies Magazine and the Journal du Dimanche.  She is married and has two teenagers, Louis and Charlotte. She lives in Paris with her family.