Begins in Jacques Cartier’s home of Saint-Malo, Brittany, France as the island fortress is about to bombed into oblivion. Having begun near the ending the book retraces its steps to document the lives of people resident on the island at the time. There are two principal characters, blind Marie-Laure, daughter of a museum curator in Paris; and Werner who with his sister Jutta is a German orphan. It seems to be out of fashion to tell a story from beginning to end these days. This one jumps regularly from childhood memories to adulthood and points in between and from place to place. Somehow it is easier to follow than most I’ve read lately. What is most poignantly evident here is the utter futility of war and the unspeakable things people will do to survive. Living or dying is random. The story is well told, the content can be rather harrowing.
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