All the Light We Cannot See characters

Appears from the start

A blind French girl sheltering in Saint-Malo during the Allied bombardment. She navigates by touch, memory, and a detailed wooden model of the walled city, carrying a small replica house while alone in her great-uncle's tall home.

Appears from the start

A young German soldier serving in a unit that locates enemy radio transmissions. During the bombardment of Saint-Malo, he is trapped beneath a hotel with two fellow soldiers and only a field radio linking the sealed cellar to the battle outside.

First appears in chapter 2

Marie-Laure's father and the principal locksmith at Paris's Museum of Natural History. Patient and ingenious, he teaches his daughter independence by constructing scale models of their neighborhood and asking her to learn every street by touch.

First appears in chapter 2

Werner's younger sister and closest companion at the orphanage in Zollverein. Curious, morally direct, and attentive to foreign radio broadcasts, she shares Werner's fascination with the wider world but is more willing to question what Germany is becoming.

First appears in chapter 4

Marie-Laure's reclusive great-uncle in Saint-Malo, deeply marked by his service in the First World War. He rarely leaves his house and spends much of his life beside a powerful radio assembled with his late brother.

First appears in chapter 4

Etienne's longtime housekeeper in Saint-Malo. Practical, warm, and resolute, she welcomes Daniel and Marie-Laure into the house and refuses to let occupation extinguish ordinary acts of care or resistance.

First appears in chapter 4

A German specialist assigned to find a legendary diamond removed from the Paris museum. Already ill, he pursues the gem and the belief that it can preserve its owner from death with methodical urgency.

First appears in chapter 4

An instructor at the National Political Institute where Werner is trained. He recognizes Werner's gift for mathematics and radio engineering and draws him into technical work meant to locate transmitters with increasing precision.

First appears in chapter 4

Werner's sensitive and independent-minded friend at the military school. A passionate observer of birds, he lacks the cruelty valued by their instructors and refuses to pretend that brutality becomes right merely because authority demands it.

Appears from the start

An exceptionally large German soldier trapped in the Saint-Malo cellar with Werner. Calm under pressure and accustomed to being used for his physical strength, he takes command of their effort to escape the rubble.

Appears from the start

The third German soldier trapped beneath the Hotel of Bees during the bombardment. An engineer working beside Werner and Volkheimer, he is badly injured when the building collapses around them.

First appears in chapter 2

A museum scientist who helps nurture Marie-Laure's fascination with mollusks and the hidden structures of the natural world. His lessons give her a field of study that can be explored through touch as well as sight.

First appears in chapter 6

A baker in Saint-Malo who participates in the local women's resistance network. Loaves from her shop carry concealed information, allowing messages to move through the occupied town under the cover of daily errands.