All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)

Marie-Laure LeBlanc, blind since childhood, lives with her father in Paris. In 1940, as the Germans advance on Paris, they flee to family in Saint-Malo, a quaint town on the Brittany coast. They will live there until they can return home. 

Daniel LeBlanc, Marie-Laure's father, is a locksmith for a museum. Scrambling to keep the best of its collection from the Nazis, museum authorities make replicas of a priceless jewel called the Sea of Flames and distributes them. Daniel carries one as he flees west; he is not told if it is a replica or genuine. And he does not know that a noted Nazi gemologist, Sergeant Major Reinhold Von Rumpel, will stop at nothing to find the real one.

Werner Pfennig, orphan, lives with his sister in an orphanage in the Ruhr valley. They love listening to a radio that Werner has found and fixed. Gifted in technical fields, he earns a spot in a prestigious school, where he works with a professor to develop radio transmitter detection units. He "is succeeding. He is being loyal. He is being what everybody agrees is good. And yet every time he wakes and buttons his tunic, he feels he is betraying something."

Etienne LeBlanc, Marie-Laure's great-uncle, lives in Saint-Malo as he battles fits of insanity triggered by World War I. Eventually, he agrees to transmit messages for the resistance from a secret antenna in his roof. The Germans know someone in the area is doing so . . . and are sending a unit in to find where.

The stories of all will come together in All the Light we Cannot See, as each wrestle with navigating what it means to love each other during a war that has brought terror and atrocities to all.

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I've read many books about World War II, but this historical fiction account is the first I've read that portrays the 'daze' of the early times, when Paris was evacuating as the Nazis approached. The communication technology of the time made for harrowing situations, as families were separated with sparse methods to reunify. So many didn't. I can't imagine.

This story is hauntingly beautiful. I love how Doerr moves the story along (well, back and forth in time), what he says, and what he skips. The brokenness and unknowns are heartbreaking. The inner battles of the main characters are absorbing. Overall, this is an outstanding read, well worth the Pulitzer it won.

Rating: A