Marie-Laure lives in Paris with her dad, who works at the Museum of Natural History. Life changes overnight when the Nazis invade the city. She’s only twelve when they flee to Saint-Malo, a coastal town where her reclusive great-uncle lives. They don’t come empty-handed—they’re carrying a jewel from the museum, possibly its most precious (and dangerous) treasure.

Meanwhile, in a struggling German mining town, a boy named Werner grows up in an orphanage with his little sister. He’s fascinated by a broken radio they find, and before long, he’s fixing and building radios like a pro. The Nazis take notice and recruit him to help them locate resistance fighters.

In All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr tells a powerful story of two young lives on opposite sides of the war. Their paths cross in a way neither could have expected, showing how light, hope, and decency still flicker even in the darkest times.