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All the Light We Cannot See

By Anthony Doerr

| 544 pages
2 recommendations
WINNER OF THE 2015 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTIONNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR FICTION A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II 'Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.' For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic layers within the invaluable diamond that her father guards in the Museum of Natural History. The walled city by the sea, where father and daughter take refuge when the Nazis invade Paris. And a future which draws her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, destined to labour in the mines until a broken radio fills his life with possibility and brings him to the notice of the Hitler Youth. In this magnificent, deeply moving novel, the stories ofMarie-Laure and Werner illuminate the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
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Lizette Sutherland
13th Nov 2024
"Doerr's magically woven tale of a young blind girl, tracing her steps through a WWII Paris, based on a miniature layout her father built for her, will immerse you in a world where the narrowest of light can reach your soul before it reaches your eyes."
Jo Dorling
8th Sep 2024
"When we visit countries our eyes see the beauty of the views before us and we lap them up when we are there. Most of us forget that a lot of the landscape we see has been shaped by war and destruction.

This fiction book set in WII France bears witness to the adaptation locals needed to make with occupation but through the 'eyes' of a blind girl. I found an emotional connection to the story and when I visit any war torn/occupied country (not just France / WII) I now take time to think of what has gone before what we see before us, I might not know the specific details but ultimately realise there has been sacrifice by the population somewhere in recent history."