All The Light We Cannot See Isn't A True Story, But Is It Historically Accurate?
"All The Light We Cannot See," Netflix's much-anticipated four-episode limited series, debuted on the platform in early November 2023 to mixed reviews. But the one thing viewers want to know — especially those who didn't read Anthony Doerr's eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel on which the series is based — is how much of the story is true.
Doerr's 544-page novel is fictional, as are the characters who inhabit his story. But the book, which is set in Europe during World War II, does include elements of historical truth. For one, the Germans did occupy France, conquering Paris on June 14, 1940. In the book and series, the German occupation of Paris is what causes Marie-Laure LeBlanc (Aria Mia Loberti) and her father Daniel (Mark Ruffalo) to flee to her reclusive uncle Etienne's (Hugh Laurie) home in the seaside haven of Saint-Malo.
Marie-Laure's time in Saint-Malo is marked by her participation in the French resistance — which was active during the occupation and used radio to broadcast coded messages — and by the battle of Saint-Malo, which took place between August 4 and September 2, 1944. Doerr's book was especially inspired by the destruction of the city, which was perpetrated by the Allied forces in an effort to force the Germans out of their stronghold.
"It was really important to me to try to make sure every little detail of Saint-Malo was right," Doerr told Netflix, "so that somebody who lived through that siege would be persuaded that the verisimilitude of this project was real."
The Sea of Flames diamond is not real, but it was inspired by another cursed gem
In the novel and series, Marie-Laure's father, Daniel, works as a locksmith at Paris' Museum of Natural History. In a 2014 interview, Anthony Doerr told Powell's that he was particularly captivated by the French initiative to smuggle the country's priceless art out of the Louvre before the Germans invaded. He said, "They really only had weeks to get all this stuff out of Paris. Rembrandts and the Mona Lisa were rolled up and moved out of the city."
In the story, the museum entrusts Daniel with the Sea of Flames — the rarest and most valuable item in its possession — to keep it safe from the Nazis. The diamond is allegedly cursed; as Daniel explains to Marie-Laure, "If you touch the stone, whoever you love will suffer terrible misfortune. But if you possess the stone, you yourself will never die."
The Sea of Flames does not exist, but it was inspired by a similar gem. "The closest analog is in the British Natural History Museum," Doerr explained. "It's a sapphire that people have believed is cursed for a long time." That stone is known as the Delhi Purple Sapphire, also called the Gem of Sorrow. It is rumored to have originated in India before being taken by a British soldier, who then experienced a series of unfortunate events. The stone developed a reputation for afflicting its owners with bad luck, which is why its final possessor recommended throwing it into the sea. Which, in the end, is exactly what Marie-Laure does to the Sea of Flames.