“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.”
All the Light We Cannot See is a 2014 World War Two historical fiction book by Anthony Doerr. The story opens with twelve-year-old Marie-Laure, a Parisian girl who flees the capital with her father following the Nazi occupation. The pair move to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo where Marie-Laure’s reclusive uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig is an orphan growing up with his sister. He becomes adept at building and fixing instruments, a talent that is soon taken advantage of to track down the Allied resistance. Doerr masterfully weaves the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner in this beautiful story of, even against all odds, people finding a way of being good to one another. If you loved Doerr’s work, join us at What We Reading for the best books like All the Light We Cannot See!
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
First up in our list of books like All the Light We Cannot See is Markus Zusak’s acclaimed historical fiction story, The Book Thief. By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is upended when she picks up a single object half-submerged in the snow in 1939 Germany. The object is The Gravedigger’s Handbook. It has been left there by accident and marks her first instance of book theft. What follows is a love affair of books and language as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing father, learns to read.
She soon begins to start stealing books from Nazi book burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library and just about anywhere else she can get her hands on across the Third Reich. But, when Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is simultaneously opened up and closed down.
The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
France, 1939. In the quiet village of Vianne Mauriac waves goodbye to her husband. When the Nazis invade and occupy France, her house is requisitioned by a German captain. She and her daughter must now live with the enemy, or lose everything they have. Without food or money or hope, and as danger escalates around them, she is flung from impossible decision to impossible decision to keep her family alive.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old searching for a purpose in the world. Whilst thousands of Parisians around her march head-first into the horrors of war, she meets Gaetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within. The two fall in love as only young people can. But, when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the resistance and begins risking her life time and time again to save others. Similar to All the Light We Cannot See, Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale is a beautifully told tale of two people doing all they can to survive the destruction of World War Two.
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A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
From the bestselling author of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini introduces readers to Laila and Mariam in his book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Mariam is only fifteen years old when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Fast forward two decades, growing unrest and tragedy force fifteen-year-old Laila to move into Mariam’s unhappy household. Laila and Mariam soon begin to strike up a deep connection, sharing a friendship like sisters and building bonds as strong as a mother and daughter.
As time passes, the Taliban come to rule over Afghanistan and the streets are filled with the sounds of gunfire and bombs. Life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, barbarism and fear. Yet, even against all odds, love moves people to act in extraordinary ways, leading to them overcoming daunting obstacles and triumphing over death and destruction. Poignant, touching and powerful, Hosseini offers one of the best books like All the Light We Cannot See if you need a reminder of all the good human connectivity can do.
The Street Of A Thousand Blossoms – Gail Tsukiyama
In Tokyo in 1939, two orphan brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents. They are being inspired to dream of a future firmly entrenched in tradition. The older of the two, Hiroshi, shows incredible promise in the national obsession of sumo wrestling, whilst his brother, Kenji, is fascinated by the art of creating masks for actors in the Noh theatre.
Across town, a famous sumo master, Sho Tanaka, lives with his wife and two daughters: Aki and Haru. Life seems perfect as Kenji begins an apprenticeship with the most famous mask-maker in Japan and Hiroshi receives an invitation to train with Tanaka. Then Pearl Harbour rips everything apart and puts this quiet neighbourhood’s dreams on hold. Spanning thirty years, Gail Tsukiyama’s The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a moving book like All the Light We Cannot See that explores tradition, change, loss, hope and the impact of events beyond the control of ordinary men and women.
The German Girl – Armando Lucas Correa
Hannah Rosenthal once lived a charmed life in Berlin. But, as the streets are draped with red, white and black flags, her family’s possessions are hauled away and they are no longer welcome in the places they once called home. Hope appears in the form of the S.S. St. Louis, a transatlantic liner offering Jews safe passage out of Germany. Along with her best friend, Leo Martin, and his family, they embark on a glamour-filled trip to Havanna. Soon, however, rumours from Cuba begin to undermine the passengers’ sense of safety. Each day brings new impossible choices and unthinkable sacrifices.
Seventy years later in New York City, on her twelfth birthday, Anna Rosen receives a strange gift from an unknown relative in Cuba, her great aunt Hannah. What is inside will inspire her and her mother to travel to Havanna to learn the truth about the family’s mysterious past, and help Anna understand her own place and purpose in the world.
The Woman With The Blue Star – Pam Jenoff
Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents in the Krakow Ghetto during the Second World War. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in perilous tunnels underneath the city. One day, she looks through the grates and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers.
Ella Stepanek comes from an affluent Polish family living a life of relative ease thanks to her stepmother’s close alliance with the occupying Germans. Whilst running errands in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Looking closer, she sees that it is a girl. The two girls become close friends but, as the dangers of war worsen, their fates are put on a collision course that will test them against the most incredible odds. Inspired by incredible true stories, Pam Jenoff’s The Woman with the Blue Star is one of the best WW2 books like All the Light We Cannot See for another tale of two unlikely friends and their struggles being caught up in conflict.
The Porcelain Maker – Sarah Freethy
At a festive gathering of young bohemians in 1929 Weimar, two young artists, Max, a skilled Jewish architect, and Bettina, a renowned avant-garde painter, are drawn together and embark on a whirlwind romance. Their talents take them to the dazzling lights of Berlin, but this beginning is swiftly plunged into darkness by the rise of Fascism. Max is arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp where only his talent at making fine porcelain figures stands between him and certain death. Desperate to save her lover, Bettina risks everything to save him and escape Germany.
Years later in America, Bettina’s daughter, Clara, embarks on a journey to trace her roots and discover the identity of her father, something her mother has kept hidden for reasons she has never understood. Clara’s quest whisks readers into the heart of Nazi Germany, where life is lived on a razor’s edge, deception lurks in every corner, and survival is dependant on strength, loyalty and the ability to spot genuine friends from hidden foes. Another book similar to Anthony Doerr’s work, The Porcelain Maker is a powerful story of enduring love and courage in the face of appalling brutality.
The Tattooist Of Auschwitz (The Tattooist Of Auschwitz #1) – Heather Morris
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When the guards see he is fluent in several languages, he is put to work as a Tatowierer, tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities, but also incredible moments of compassion and bravery.
One day, Lale comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita and, from that very first encounter, he vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her. Heather Morris’ The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a harrowing and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences in the Holocaust. Like All the Light We Cannot See, it is one of the most powerful books for demonstrating the endurance of love and humanity even in the darkest conditions.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Tattooist Of Auschwitz
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven – Chris Cleave
It’s 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher for children who were evacuated from London but were rejected from the countryside either because they are infirm, mentally disabled or – like Zachary – have coloured skin. Tom is an education administrator who is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed a world away from the violent life he has now condemned himself to.
Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as an employer, and then as a romantic partner. But, after she meets Alastair, the three are pulled into a tragic love triangle and – as the bombs begin to fall around them – a new world unlike any they’ve ever known before. Like Doerr’s books, Chris Cleave’s Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is an epic historical character-driven novel featuring cultural insights and indelible scenes that perfectly illustrate the love, loss and courage involved in dark times.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
