Trapped in the Rubble
After days in the dark, Volkheimer ultimately drops this explosive weapon into the stairwell to blast them out of the cellar.
What is a grenade?
This local baker's wife knocks on the door in the afternoon to warn Marie-Laure to evacuate, though Marie stays hidden.
Who is Madame Ruelle?
Legend says that whoever holds the Sea of Flames will live forever, but this will happen to everyone they love.
What is they will suffer misfortune/die?
These pieces of paper drop from the sky over Saint-Malo, warning the citizens: "Urgent message to the inhabitants of this town. Depart immediately to open country."
What are the Allied pamphlets/leaflets?
Werner and Jutta grew up in the orphanage, listening to a Frenchman's broadcasts about science.
Who is Henri LeBlanc?
This is the grim secret Volkheimer has been keeping hidden from Werner while they are trapped under the Hotel of Bees.
What is the grenade (or his plan to use it)?
After successfully broadcasting the map coordinates of the German anti-aircraft guns, this terrible fate befalls Etienne on his way home.
What is he is arrested/detained by the Germans?
Sergeant Major von Rumpel is racing against time to find the diamond because he is suffering from this terminal illness.
What is cancer (or a lymphoid tumor)?
The resistance in Saint-Malo passes information to Etienne by hiding secret codes inside these everyday items.
What are loaves of bread?
Werner's primary job in the German military is to use his transceiver equipment to track down these people.
Who are illegal radio broadcasters / resistance fighters?
Werner frequently hallucinates the ghost of this person, which eventually morphs into his sister, Jutta, acting as the ultimate symbol of his guilt.
Who is the Viennese girl?
Etienne promises himself that if he survives the war, he will do this with Marie-Laure.
What is never leave her again / let her lead him / take her to Paris?
When von Rumpel hears the music suddenly playing from the garret upstairs, he immediately thinks this.
What is that he has finally found the Sea of Flames?
This is the name of the brutal, elite German military school Werner attends before being deployed to the front lines.
What is Schulpforta (or the National Political Institute of Education)?
While trapped in the attic, Marie-Laure broadcasts herself reading this classic Jules Verne novel over the radio.
What is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea?
Volkheimer gets the idea to use the explosive after recalling a memory of this family member blasting tree stumps.
Who is his grandfather/great-grandfather?
After five days of hiding from the German downstairs, Marie-Laure makes the brave and defiant decision to do this.
What is turn on the radio transmitter (and play music/read out loud)?
To keep the real diamond safe, Marie-Laure’s father hides it inside this intricate, puzzle-like object.
What is the wooden model of Saint-Malo / the model of Etienne's house?
Werner’s gentle friend Frederick suffers severe brain damage after he refuses to perform this cruel task in front of the other cadets.
What is throw freezing water on a prisoner?
This classical piano piece by Claude Debussy is the signature song Etienne and Marie-Laure play over the radio transmitter.
What is "Clair de Lune"?
Immediately after escaping the rubble of the Hotel of Bees, Werner takes his rifle and heads toward this specific location.
What is the house on rue Vauborel / Etienne's house?
Marie-Laure’s decision to stop hiding and turn on the transmitter reveals this key trait about her character.
What is her courage / agency / refusal to die quietly?
Before the war, Marie-Laure's father was entrusted with the diamond because he held this specific job title in Paris.
What is the master of locks at the Museum of Natural History?
Etienne LeBlanc was traumatized and left agoraphobic due to his harrowing experiences serving in this conflict.
What is World War I?
The book's title, All the Light We Cannot See, refers literally to the electromagnetic spectrum and radio waves, but metaphorically refers to this.
What is the unseen humanity, goodness, or resilience in people?