All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

In this exquisite novel, WW11 is depicted through two parallel stories focussing on the experiences of Marie-Laure a French girl who has been blind since the age of six and her father who works at the Museum of Natural History as a locksmith and Werner a young German orphan whose talent for radio engineering earns him a place as a recruit in an elite Nazi military academy. When the Nazis occupy Paris, Marie-Laure and her father flee to Saint-Malo to live with her father’s reclusive uncle. Meanwhile Werner’s talents at picking up radio transmissions from the allies bring him closer to the front. We know that it is only a matter of time, but how and why will these two young people’s worlds intersect? My enjoyment of this novel was greatly enhanced by the fact that I was reading it while travelling in Europe and as such it will remain with me as one of those very “special” reading experiences in my life!