All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See is a 2014 war novel that was written by American author Anthony Doerr. The novel is set during World War II and centers around the characters Marie-Laure Leblanc, a blind French girl who takes refuge in her uncle's house in Saint-Malo after Paris is invaded by Nazi Germany; and Werner Pfennig, a bright German boy who is accepted into a military school because of his skills in radio technology before being sent to the military. The novel is written in a poetic style, and almost all of the chapters alternate between Marie-Laure's story and Werner's story, both of which parallel each other. The narrative has a nonlinear structure, flashing between the Battle of Saint-Malo and the events leading up to it. The story has moral themes such as the dangers of possession and the nature of sacrifice, and portrays fascination with science and nature. Doerr's first inspiration came from a 2004 train ride, during which he watched a man become angry because his telephone call cut out. Doerr felt the man was unappreciative of the "miracle" of being able to communicate across long distances. He decided to set the novel in World War II with a focus on the Battle of Saint-Malo after a book trip to the town in 2005. Scribner published the novel on May 6, 2014, to commercial and critical success. All the Light We Cannot See was on The New York Times Best Seller list for over 200 weeks and ultimately sold over 15 million copies. Several publications considered it to be among the best books of 2014, and it won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. A television adaptation produced by Netflix and 21 Laps Entertainment was announced in 2019.