About the Author

Anthony Doerr is the author of All the Light We Cannot See, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Carnegie Medal, the Alex Award, and a #1 New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of the story collections Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, the novel About Grace, and the memoir Four Seasons in Rome. He has won five O. Henry Prizes, the Rome Prize, the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award, the National Magazine Award for fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Story Prize. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

"Mesmerizing... Exquisite... The written equivalent of a Botticelli or a Michelangelo." -The Portland Oregonian

"Stunning... Uplifting... Not to be missed." -Entertainment Weekly "Hauntingly beautiful." -The New York Times "Each and every person in this finely spun assemblage is distinct and true." -USA Today "Intertwines secret radio broadcasts, a cursed diamond, a soldier's deepest doubts into a richly compelling package... Irresistible." -People "Gorgeous... Moves with the pace of a thriller." -San Francisco Chronicle "Enthrallingly told, beautifully written." --Amanda Vaill, The Washington Post "Dazzling . . . Startlingly fresh." --John Freeman, The Boston Globe "Intricate . . . A meditation on fate, free will, and the way that, in wartime, small choices can have vast consequences." --The New Yorker "Brims with scrupulous reverence for all forms of life. The invisible light of the title shines long after the last page." --Tricia Springstubb, The Cleveland Plain Dealer "Anthony Doerr writes beautifully. . . . A tour de force." --Elizabeth Reid, Deseret News "Anthony Doerr again takes language beyond mortal limits." --Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair "Perfectly captured . . . Doerr writes sentences that are clear-eyed, taut, sweetly lyrical." --Josh Cook, Minneapolis StarTribune "A beautiful, expansive tale . . . Ambitious and majestic." --Steph Cha, Los Angeles Times "Doerr is an exquisite stylist; his talents are on full display." --Alan Cheuse, NPR "The craftsmanship of Doerr's book is rooted in his ability to inhabit the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner." --Steve Novak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Doerr deftly guides All the Light We Cannot See toward the day Werner's and Marie-Laure's lives intersect during the bombing of Saint-Malo in what may be his best work to date." --Yvonne Zipp, The Christian Science Monitor "To open a book by Anthony Doerr is to open a door on humanity. . . . His sentences shimmer. . . . His paragraphs are luminous with bright, sparkling beauty." --Martha Anne Toll, Washington Independent Review of Books "Endlessly bold and equally delicate . . . An intricate miracle of invention, narrative verve, and deep research lightly held, but above all a miracle of humanity . . . Anthony Doerr's novel celebrates--and also accomplishes--what only the finest art can: the power to create, reveal, and augment experience in all its horror and wonder, heartbreak and rapture." --Shelf Awareness "Intricately structured . . . All the Light We Cannot See is a work of art and of preservation." --Jane Ciabattari, BBC "Magnificent." --Carmen Callil, The Guardian (UK) "The whole enthralls." --Good Housekeeping "A revelation." --Michael Magras, Bookreporter.com "Doerr conjures up a vibrating, crackling world. . . . Intricately, beautifully crafted." --Rebecca Kelley, Bustle.com "There is so much in this book. It is difficult to convey the complexity, the detail, the beauty, and the brutality of this simple story." --Carole O'Brien, Aspen Daily News "Beautifully written . . . Soulful and addictive." --Chris Stuckenschneider, The Missourian "A novel to live in, learn from, and feel bereft over when the last page is turned, Doerr's magnificently drawn story seems at once spacious and tightly composed. . . . Doerr masterfully and knowledgeably re-creates the deprived civilian conditions of war-torn France and the strictly controlled lives of the military occupiers." --Booklist (starred review) "Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "If a book's success can be measured by its ability to move readers and the number of memorable characters it has, Story Prize-winner Doerr's novel triumphs on both counts. Along the way, he convinces readers that new stories can still be told about this well-trod period, and that war--despite its desperation, cruelty, and harrowing moral choices--cannot negate the pleasures of the world." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "This novel has the physical and emotional heft of a masterpiece. . . . It presents two characters so interesting and sympathetic that readers will keep turning the pages hoping for an impossibly happy ending. . . . Highly recommended for fans of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient." --Evelyn Beck, Library Journal (starred review)