All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a novel set in France and Germany during the Second World War. Although most of the story is set during the war there are also sections set in the 1930s and more recently. The novel largely consists of alternating chapters telling the experiences of Marie-Laure in France and Werner in Germany. There is also the story of a German Army Officer who is determined to find a special stone that he believes will cure him.

Marie-Laure and her father escape from Paris to Saint-Malo and move in with Marie-Laure's great uncle. Marie-Laure is blind but her father has made models of the streets where they live to assist her in navigating her local area. Werner is an orphan living in a children's home with his sister, Jutte. He is a very bright boy with the aptitude to use and repair short wave radios. This ability earns him a place in a military school where he can expand his knowledge but also learn to be a soldier. 

The novel describes the experiences of these young people from different countries as their lives are drastically altered by war. As the story progresses the effects of war on ordinary people becomes more obvious as the shortage of food increases and bombing intensifies. Still these two young people strive to keep alive and help others when they can. Throughout the novel both the characters have access to short wave radio which they use in different ways - the radio waves providing the light we cannot see. 

All the Light We Cannot See won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2015.