This book was from my 2015 Reading Challenge category: A book set in a different country
This was a great book. I had a hard time putting it down, and - even though it was over 500 pages - I finished it in a few days. Did I ignore a few house chores to read instead? Yes. Yes I did.
The story is about a young girl - Marie-Laure - from about the age of 6-16 who is blind and living in France (first Paris and then Saint Malo) during WWII with her father. The other major character in the book is a boy named Werner who is an orphan from Germany. It covers his ages from about 6-18 as well. Their paths never cross until the very end of the book. They don't speak the same language, they have very different lives, but yet - they meet each other.
It was pretty powerful.
The story isn't a hard read, and will hold your interest. Marie-Laure and her father must flee Paris when the war starts, and they end up in beautiful Saint Malo living with her great-uncle (who is an agoraphobic) and his house keeper. Werner, on the other hand, is discovered to be a brilliant engineer from an early age (can fix about any radio he comes across) and is quickly admitted to a science academy for Hitler youth. It covered the span of their young life, and then jumps in the end to the year 1974 and then to 2014. I love a book that shows what happens to the characters when the "worst" is behind them and how it shaped their lives.
I wish I would have read this before we traveled to Paris this summer. I could see some of the places they talked about, and I think I would have tried to include Saint Malo into our trip.
I give it 5 starts. Good read - don't miss it!
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