海角大神

In France, a young blind girl learns how to navigate a city by studying a model. In Germany, a young boy with a talent for radios is recruited by the Nazis.

The stories of Marie-Laure and Werner soon become linked, by, among other things, their love of a radio program and an extremely valuable diamond.聽

The narrative of the financially successful, prize-winning novel 鈥淎ll the Light We Cannot See,鈥� by Anthony Doerr, is one that has enthralled readers with its focus on World War II and the seemingly stark moral themes that come with that particular conflict. After being published in 2014, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other awards, and became a bestseller.聽

And sales have just never stopped.

Why today's audiences are drawn to this story may be a reflection on a yearning for the kind of moral clarity that narratives about WWII tend to embody. It's also appealing because it's about two children trying to preserve something inherently good in a time of great evil. Of course, excellent and accessible writing helps. 聽

On the Nov. 10 edition of the IndieBound bestseller list, which records sales for independent bookstores in the US, the hardcover fiction bestseller list is mostly populated, naturally enough, by books that have come out within the past couple of months, such as John Grisham鈥檚 鈥淭he Whistler鈥� (published Oct. 25), 鈥淐ommonwealth鈥� by Ann Patchett (released Sept 13), and Jodi Picoult鈥檚 鈥淪mall Great Things鈥� (published Oct. 11).聽

And then there鈥檚 鈥淎ll the Light We Cannot See,鈥� holding steadfast at No. 10, topping new releases by authors such as Jojo Moyes and Alice Hoffman. And "All" has spent 130 weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction list so far. By comparison, the highest amount of time any of the other 15 bestselling books on the Nov. 27 list has been there is 17 weeks.

鈥淚t鈥檚 still one of our bestsellers,鈥� Courtney Flynn, a manager at Boston鈥檚 Trident Booksellers and Caf茅, tells 海角大神. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing.鈥�

Book critic Steve Donoghue says the success of 鈥淎ll鈥� makes it stand out from even its award-winning brethren.聽

鈥淸There are] plenty that have won prizes,鈥� Mr. Donoghue tells the Monitor. 鈥淭his one has legs.鈥澛�

What continues to draw readers to this story?聽

Ms. Flynn has seen the book鈥檚 time period continue to appeal to readers, as seen in other bestsellers like 鈥淟ife After Life鈥� by Kate Atkinson and 鈥淯nbroken鈥� by Laura Hillenbrand.聽

鈥淭he World War II time period 鈥� continues to be something people are always wanting to read about, fictional or otherwise,鈥� she says.聽

Donoghue, who has written for publications such as The Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews as well as the Monitor,聽believes the seemingly black-and-white nature of the conflict at the center of the book may be appealing to today's readers.

"You could not possibly do a version of 'All the Light We Cannot See' centered around the Vietnam War," he says. "You couldn't possibly do it. The Good War, you can do that with."聽

The book is a prize-winner, having received not only the Pulitzer Prize, but also the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and having made an appearance on the shortlist for the National Book Award. Yet while some readers might associate award winners with dense and difficult prose, both Flynn and Donoghue praise its accessibility.聽

鈥淚 think it's literary but not challengingly so,鈥� Flynn says.聽

Donoghue says he feels confident he could recommend this book to just about any reader and have them enjoy it.聽

鈥淣ot because the narrative is simple,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t isn't simplistic at all. But because it's welcoming, as opposed to, you know, 鈥榟ere are the five best tricks I learned to put off my readers when I went to MFA school.鈥� 鈥澛�

And in 鈥淎ll,鈥� Donoghue believes readers trust Doerr with characters' fates, reminding him of the character depictions in another World War II work, Herman Wouk鈥檚 鈥淭he Winds of War鈥� series.

In the 鈥淲inds鈥� books, 鈥測ou know that the good guys aren't going to come to unambiguously tragic endings,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey might die, but they'll die saving people, they'll die being all that they can be, that kind of thing. You definitely get that sense in this book, too.鈥澛�

Doerr鈥檚 novel is also one in which its characters discuss and value the seemingly simple things in life. During their childhood, before Werner begins working for the Nazis, Werner and his sister, Jutta, are enthralled by a radio show about science and classical music. As Marie-Laure grows up in Paris, her beloved father introduces her to Jules Verne works like 鈥淭wenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.鈥�

Writing about "All" and its subplot about a valuable diamond,聽Monitor fiction critic Yvonne Zipp聽noted, 鈥淭his is a novel in which canned peaches, John James Audubon, Jules Verne, sea snails, and DeBussy have more value than a polished hunk of compressed carbon. It is a calculus both inarguable and deeply moral.鈥澛�

In that regard, Donoghue sees a connection between this novel and the classic 1965 film 鈥淭he Sound of Music,鈥� which of course also became a huge success.

鈥淭he main characters aren't just trying to survive,鈥� he says of the two works. 鈥淭hey also are trying to preserve something, something good that is threatened.鈥�