A magnificent, metaphorical puzzle-box of a story, with a priceless gemstone hidden inside. All you have to do is feel your way along the labyrinth of city streets, choose the right building, unlock several latches, and twist. The prize, of course, is happiness which is as fleeting as the lives that come and go so quickly through this beautifully written tale. The light is love. And whether or not Marie Laure can see it, she feels it every day of her life, from the time she goes blind as little girl and her father takes such tender care of her, through her great uncle’s accompaniment on her dangerous adventures, through the worse of the war, to the handsome German soldier who rushes to her aid when her life is threatened, to her grandson who still accompanies her on walks now that she is over eighty.
Years after the young soldier’s death, she receives a key from him… memory.
An allegory as beautiful written as poetry with characters as carefully drawn. As for saving the gemstone from the sea… it would have been nice. But the happiness of lost love may still be enough.