All the Light We Cannot See: What is it based on and is it a true story?

All the Light We Cannot See is Netflix's newest popular series, starring blind actress Aria Mia Loberti - but is the series based on a true story? Here's all we know about the powerful new historical drama. 

Netflix's new series All the Light We Cannot See has already garnered global media attention. It's the #1 Netflix series right now (with the likes of Bodies and Till Murder Do Us Part also among the most watched), according to the media streaming conglomerate, and deservedly so - this powerful story, starring newcomer blind actress Aria Mia Loberti as well as Mark Ruffalo, tells of Marie and Daniel LeBlanc respectively, a father-daughter duo who escape Paris in the wake of World War II. 

The four-part limited series is directed by Shawn Levy, who also directed beloved Netflix franchise Stranger Things. The show, so powerful in its depictions of life during World War II through the lens of a blind woman (who carries a precious, sought-after jewel in tow, making her a target for the Nazis), is captivating fans, causing them to wonder if the series could be based on a true story. 

Read below for all we know about All the Light We Cannot See, including what it's based on, and whether it's a true story.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

What is Netflix's All the Light We Cannot See based on?

Netflix's All the Light We Cannot See is based on a 2014 novel by Anthony Doerr. The novel is about 500 pages in length, and tells the heart-wrenching story of Marie and her father Daniel, who escape Paris for the seaside French town of Sant-Malo during World War II as the Nazis occupy French cities. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, £5.50 | Amazon

You can buy Anthony Doerr's 2014 novel that inspired the Netflix series on Amazon now. 

View Deal

Anthony Doerr 3 Books Collection Set (Memory Wall, About Grace, All the Light We Cannot See), £24.99 | Amazon

Buy Anthony Doerr's All The Light We Cannot See along with Memory Wall and About Grace in this book trio bundle. 

View Deal

The series stays mostly true to the novel, depicting Marie as she joins her reclusive Uncle Etienne, who broadcasts on the radio as part of the resistance, to keep the precious stone, the Sea of Flames, guarded from the Nazis. Particularly after the stone is the harsh officer Reinhold von Rumpel, who stops at nothing to find Marie and the jewel - even killing Marie's father Daniel in the process.

In tandem, Marie's path crosses with that of Werner Pfennig, a German soldier set to track down illegal radio broadcasts, who finds connectivity with Marie in their shared love for radio - particularly a broadcast from a man called "the professor," who explains science and other clandestine topics. We later find out the "professor" is Uncle Etienne, who then enlists Werner to keep Marie safe from von Rumpel.

Eventually, Werner and Marie finally meet, and share a short but powerful love for one another.

"I always felt that this book, and hopefully this show, is this construct of inexorable intersection of destiny, that they’re slowly coming together," director Shawn Levy told Netflix. "And I love this idea that they’re only together for less than an hour, but it’s the love of a lifetime, in some ways, in a single moment."

Is Netflix's All the Light We Cannot See a true story?

In short, no - although the novel and series are based on a real historical time period and include realistic depictions of World War II, the contents of the book itself are not real. 

The 1944 siege of Sant-Malo was real, however, and author of the novel Anthony Doerr tried to ensure that all of the details of the seaside town were accurate. "It was really important to me to try to make sure every little detail of Saint-Malo was right," he told Netflix, "so that somebody who lived through that siege would be persuaded that the verisimilitude of this project was real."