Hilary Boyd: 5 uplifting books that made me cry

All The Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

I ‘read’ this as an audio book, which worked for me. I won’t allow myself to listen to audio books in the house, so if I’m enjoying a book, I’m forced to go out for a walk – rain or shine – in order to hear the next chapter. This one upped my step count by thousands.

Set in occupied France in World War II, it’s the parallel stories of a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and a German orphan boy, Werner, whose lives are turned upside down by the war. Their paths eventually collide and a powerful connection develops between them. But it’s not about sex or relationships, it’s about how people find friendship – care deeply for each other – in times of trouble.

Doerr writes beautifully, and his description of how these two young people cope so stoically with the dire hand they’ve been dealt – Marie-Laure’s blindness and Werner’s orphan status - in a war-torn world is extremely poignant.