Section One begins in 1934, it takes the reader through the childhood stories of two children. Marie-Laure a French girl, who is going blind, and Werner a German boy, brilliant, but destined to work for the mines. Marie-Laure is taught to read braille, and explores items in her father's mesum daily. Werner's creativity is suppressed, and he must hide his love for science and art. When the children become older the beginning of the war comes. Marie-Laure can’t bring herself to believe it. Werner and his sister Jutta listen to illegal foreign broadcast on the radio. By doing this they learn about the coming war, but it also spikes Werner's interested in science and music. In this section the Sea Of Flames is also introduced. It is a stone supposedly cursed long ago, said to bring eternal life to the beholder, but death and suffering to all their loved ones. This stone is rumored to be in Marie-Laure's father's museum.
Chapter 9 Museum national d’histoire Naturelle
Chapter 10 Zollverein
Chapter 11 Key Pound
Chapter 12 Radio
Chapter 13 Take Us Home
Chapter 14 Something Rising
Chapter 15 Light
Chapter 16 Our Flag Flutters Before Us
Chapter 17 Around the World in 80 Days
Chapter 18 The Professor
Chapter 19 Sea of Flames
Chapter 20 Open Your Eyes
Chapter 21 Fade
Chapter 22 The Principles of Mechanics
Chapter 23 Rumors
Chapter 24 Bigger Faster Brighter
Chapter 25 Mark of the Beast
Letter 1
Chapter 26 Good Evening Or Heil Hitler if You Prefer
Chapter 27 Bye-bye Blind Girl
Chapter 28 Making Socks
Chapter 29 Flight
Chapter 30 Herr Siedler
Chapter 31 Exodus
- Marie-Laure LeBlanc is six-years-old and is slowly going blind
- Her father, Daniel, works at the National History Museum
- Marie-Laure goes on a tour in the museum
- The tour guide told the children on the tour that on the 13th floor of the museum, there is the Sea of Flames
- He says that a long time ago, Borneo was a prince who was attacked by robbers
- They stole everything except for this blue stone which he kept in his hand
- He survived his wounds very quickly and concluded that the stone had healing powers
- The stone had a red streak in the middle which looked like a flame, so he called the stone the Sea of Flames
- As time went on, Borneo noticed that the stone kept him healthy, but caused his loved ones to die
- He still decided to keep the stone
- Borneo retreated from the public
- Some say he became a farmer who never grew old
- Years after Borneo found the Sea of Flames, traders in India found it
- A duke found it and bought it
- After buying the diamond, his loved ones started dying, so he concluded that the diamond was the Sea of Flames
- He decided to donate it to the National History Museum
- Since then, the stone has stayed on the 13th floor
- He decided to donate it to the National History Museum
- After buying the diamond, his loved ones started dying, so he concluded that the diamond was the Sea of Flames
- A duke found it and bought it
- Marie-Laure asks why the Museum does not just throw the stone away
- The tour guide says that the stone is just too valuable
- After the tour is over, Marie-Laure ponders whether or not it would be hard to find the Sea of Flames
- One month later, she goes completely blind
- He says that a long time ago, Borneo was a prince who was attacked by robbers
- The tour guide told the children on the tour that on the 13th floor of the museum, there is the Sea of Flames
Chapter 10 Zollverein
- Werner and his sister, Jutta, grew up in Zollverein which is a city near Essen, Germany
- They lived in an orphanage called Children’s House
- Werner was very curious and asked Frau Elena (the head and nurse of Children’s House) many impossible questions
- Werner and Jutta are very close
- Jutta enjoys drawing pictures of Paris (which she has never visited, only heard about)
- Werner gets older and walks by the mines (which he will be required to work in when he is 15) and tells Jutta “ ‘That’s where Father died’ ” (Doerr 26).
Chapter 11 Key Pound
- When Marie-Laure lost her vision, everyone in her community pitied her
- People also pitied her father, because his father (Marie-Laure’s grandfather) died in World War I and his wife (Marie-Laure’s mother) died in childbirth
- Marie-Laure’s father helps her live her life without sight
- Marie-Laure’s father is the locksmith of the National History Museum
- Every day he must give everyone their keys because no one is allowed to leave with a key
- Marie-Laure’s father teaches her how to read Braille and walk with a cane
- Marie-Laure’s father cares about her education a great deal
- He takes her to spend time with Dr. Geffard who studies shells and coral reefs
- Marie-Laure loves the feel of the shells
- He takes her to spend time with Dr. Geffard who studies shells and coral reefs
- On weekend, Marie-Laure and her father walk around Paris enjoying things that do not require sight (smells of bakeries, listening to children play, and more)
- Marie-Laure’s father tells her that he will never leave her
Chapter 12 Radio
- Werner is eight-years-old and Jutta is six-years-old
- They find a radio in an old storage shed
- They take it back to the orphanage and secretly listen to it
- They can only hear static at first
- Werner messes with the wires in the radio and fixes it
- The first thing that he hears when he fixes the radio is classical music (piano and violin)
- Werner messes with the wires in the radio and fixes it
Chapter 13 Take Us Home
- Marie-Laure’s father gave her a puzzle every year for her birthday
- He made the puzzle out of would and when she solves it, there is a piece of candy (usually chocolate) inside
- He also times her to see how long it takes her to solve the puzzle, so he can dictate whether or not he should make next year’s harder or easier
- Later, Marie-Laure’s father creates a detailed model of Paris for her and tells her to study it (which she does)
- One day Marie-Laure’s father takes her onto an unfamiliar street, spins her around, and tells her to take them home
- Marie-Laure gets scared that she can not do it
- Her father tells her to remember the model of Paris which he made for her
- She is unable to find her way home
Chapter 14 Something Rising
- Werner learns how to build radios using the radio that he found
- He gets the materials that he needs and slowly improves the radio
- Werner shares the radio with the other orphans and entertains Frau Elena with music and news
- One day, there is a broadcast that discusses the courage of the German people
- One day, Werner and the orphans are listening to the radio and a play in Berlin is being broadcasted
- The play is about hook-nosed (which is a stereotype of a Jewish person) bankers and jewelers who cheat the common people and kill German children
- “Everyone is happy again” (39).
Chapter 15 Light
- Marie-Laure’s father makes her walk around the city with her cane and study the model of Paris that he made her
- She tries to walk around the city while remembering the model but finds it very difficult
- After many attempts, she is finally able to navigate her way home
- Her father joyfully picks her up in celebration
Chapter 16 Our Flag Flutters Before Us
- In the year that Werner turns 10, 2 of the boys who live in the orphanage left to go to work in the Hitler Youth program, and they are very excited to be fighting on the behalf of the Nazis
- In the orphanage, things are changing as well, children are punished for reading an for having fun with things that are not German
- Frau Elena, normally speaks French, but speaks more German now
- Meanwhile, government officials visit the orphanage to tell the children about work opportunities in the mines. The officials tell the boys that they’ll be sent to work in mines at the age of fifteen.
Chapter 17 Around the World in 80 Days
- Marie-Laure draws maps of the street in her head helping her visualize where she would travel when in the streets
- Marie-Laure reminisces on other children's curiosities on her blind state.
- Marie-Laure reminisces on her mother she never met
- Marie-Laure explains that she still thinks in color
- On her ninth birthday, her father gives her a braille book called Around The World In 80 Days
- She reads the entire book in two months and then starts it again
Chapter 18 The Professor
- Werner and Jutta find ten yards of copper wire and bring it back to the children's home
- Werner then uses the copper wire for their radio
- Jutta sneaks up to Werner's room to listen to the radio
- They tune into a French broadcast
- The Frenchman speaks about the science of light
- Werner is incredibly intrigued and excited by this broadcast because he has never heard someone speak so “intimately about the very things Werner is most curious about” (Doerr 48).
Chapter 19 Sea of Flames
- Rumors spread around the town claiming that the museum Marie-Laure's father works at has a priceless jewel
- This jewel is called the Sea Of Flames and is supposedly cursed
- Marie-Laure’s father assures her the jewel and the curse are just stories
- However unfortunate coincidences began occurring (electricity goes out in the museum for an hour, a leaky pipe destroys and exhibit, the director's wife slips on ice)
- This makes Marie-Laure wonder if the curse is just a story
- Marie-Laure asks Dr. Geffard about the diamond, but doesn’t get much information about it out of him either
Chapter 20 Open Your Eyes
- Werner and Jutta find the Frenchman's broadcast again
- They hear the Frenchman broadcast about sea creatures, the north pole, magnets, light, eclipses, and sundials
- Werner imagens the waves from his radio extending out past his town
- Werner imagens life outside of his town, and imagines himself as an important scientist
Chapter 21 Fade
- Marie-Laure starts to believe the supposed curse of the Sea Of Flames is just a story because her life is counting as before
- She tries to believe what Dr. Geffard and her father said, that it is just a pretty stone
- On her eleventh birthday, she quickly opens the puzzle her father has created for her
- She also just a braille book titled Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, for her birthday
- She reads the book all day and imagens she is on the adventures the author is on
Chapter 22 The Principles of Mechanics
- A vice minister and his wife tour the children's home
- Frau Elena prepares food and makes sure everybody looks nice
- All the children behave nicely
- The older girls make dinner
- Werner is reading The Principles Of Mechanics while at the dinner table
- The vice minister confiscates the book
- Jutta tells the vice minister that her brother will “Someday win a big prize” and “go to Berlin and study under the great scientist” (Doerr 58).
- The vice minister tells Jutta that this is untrue and that her brother will go to work in the mines when he turns 15
Chapter 23 Rumors
- Rumors start to spread in Marie-Laure's town that the Germans are coming
- Marie-Laure's father assures her she has nothing to worry about
- Marie-Laure believes him because nothing has seemed to change in her life
- She continues reading and exploring Dr. Geffard’s office
- At one point she believes she can smell “gasoline under the wind” (Doerr 61).
Chapter 24 Bigger Faster Brighter
- As Nazi power increases, boys are required to enroll in the Hitler Youth program
- Werner increases his physical endurance by running but in his free time he is teaching himself complex math and listening to the radio
- Frau Elena asks Werner to fix a neighbor’s radio, which he does easily
- Werner becomes the local radio expert
- Jutta informs Werner that a woman was kicked out of the pool because she was half-Jewish
- She asks if they are half breeds and Werner says that they are fully German
- Hans Schilzer is the strongest and oldest boy at Children’s House
- He argues with Frau Elena
- He starts fistfights
Chapter 25 Mark of the Beast
- The chapter starts off with Marie-Laure rereading one of her favorite books, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
- Marie-Laure then has an encounter with some very rude and demeaning boys who make fun of her disability.
- Marie-Laure questions her father on the chances of the beginning of a war.
- Marie-Laure has a nightmare consisting of foreign beasts killing those in the museum.
Letter 1
- There is a letter from Jutta to a French man who has a radio broadcast about science
- Werner and Jutta learned that he does not do anymore regular broadcasts
- Jutta asks him if he will broadcast again
- She adds that it is not a crime for Germans to listen to foreign podcasts
- Also, she writes that Werner does not know she is writing this letter
Chapter 26 Good Evening Or Heil Hitler if You Prefer
- It is Werner's 14th birthday
- Frau Elena makes a pudding to celebrate
- Werner begins to stress that he only has a year left before he gets sent to the mines
- Werner talks about how it has been months since he has heard the Frenchman broadcast
- Werner notes how “heil Hitler” (Doerr 69) is now everyone's preferred greeting
Chapter 27 Bye-bye Blind Girl
- Werner reminisces on his life and what has been occurring in his country, giving the reader some needed exposition.
- Lists off the characters who have left the orphanage and the new arrivals he has noticed
- Radio still working in house at this point
- Werner fears he will soon be forced to work in the mines he so dreads to work in
- Werner has nightmares consisting of mine work
- Imagery and detailed description used to set seen Werner can see and show preparation of Germans forces.
Chapter 28 Making Socks
- Werner wakes up one night to find that the Jutta is laying next to him drawing and listening to the radio.
- It is late but she is still up because she has barely any time to draw anymore because she is required to make socks during the day for the Nazi's
- Werner also finds out that the German’s have bombed Paris
Chapter 29 Flight
- Paris is in chaos, people are trying to flee the city as quickly as possible
- Mare lure sits at home trying to concentrate on 2000 leagues under the sea but her father comes home suddenly and tells her that they need to leave immediately and he tells her to leave the book behind (this her leaving her old life behind)
Chapter 30 Herr Siedler
- Werner, Jutta, and the other children in the house are doing their schoolwork at a table
- A Nazi Lance Corporal enters the house
- Werner is afraid he the Corporal has come to arrest him for broadcasting foreign programs on the radio
- Werner is then called to follow the Corporal
- They Corporal leads Werner to his house and asks him to fix his radio
- Two men had already tried to fix the radio
- After a few minutes Werner finds the issue and is able to fix the radio
- The Corporal and his wife are pleased and excited by this
- As a reward he is given cake and 75 marks
- The Corporal says he will write a letter to General Heissmeyer’s School asking them to consider Werner as a student
- When Werner returns home he sees he has a chance to get out of this town and not be sent to the mines
- Werner destroys his radio
Chapter 31 Exodus
- The train station is overcrowded and no trains are departing
- Marie-Laure's father decides it will be better for them to walk
- They walk for hours through extremely crowded streets
- By dusk, they arrive to the West of Versailles
- Marie-Laure and her father go to an abandoned farmhouse
- Her father picks the lock and tells her they are in a hotel
- Marie-Laure learns they are going to stay with a man named Monsieur Giannot in a town called Evreux
- After Marie-Laure has fallen asleep her father exams the jewel in his hand and wonders if it is the real Sea Of Flames
- He then decides the museum would not have put him in charge of the real one
- Later that night Marie-Laure's father wakes to airplanes flying east in the sky