All The Light There Was

by Nancy Kricorian

All the Light There Was is the story of an Armenian family’s struggle to survive the Nazi occupation of Paris in the 1940s—a lyrical, finely wrought tale of loyalty, love, and the many faces of resistance.

On the day the Nazis march down the rue de Belleville, fourteen-year-old Maral Pegorian is living with her family in Paris; like many other Armenians who survived the genocide in their homeland, they have come to Paris to build a new life. The adults immediately set about gathering food and provisions, bracing for the deprivation they know all too well. But the children—Maral, her brother Missak, and their close friend Zaven—are spurred to action of another sort, finding secret and not-so-secret ways to resist their oppressors. Only when Zaven flees with his brother Barkev to avoid conscription does Maral realize that the Occupation is not simply a temporary outrage to be endured. After many fraught months, just one brother returns, changing the contours of Maral’s world completely.

Like Tatiana de Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key and Jenna Blum’s Those Who Save Us , All the Light There Was is an unforgettable portrait of lives caught in the crosswinds of history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, France, Holocaust, Historical, Romance

279 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Nancy Kricorian is the author of the novels Zabelle, Dreams of Bread and Fire, and All The Light There Was, which is set in the Armenian community of Paris during World War II. She is currently working on a novel about an Armenian family in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. She grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts, and lives in New York.

Reviews

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book yesterday on my lunch hour at work and could not go to bed until I had finished it last night.


It is the story of an Armenian community in France (mainly Paris) during WW II when the Germans had occupied the country.

The novel is "bittersweet" in my opinion and is a mixture of history/romance/suspense.

[Delilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book!! If you've read Sarah's Key then you'll be familiar with the events of this book. This story of the roundup of Jews in Paris during WW2 is told from the perspective of a young Armenian catholic woman who's family has fled to escape the persecution from Turks. She watches her friends be round up and sent to their final destinations of Auschwitz and Buchenwald...she experiences love, loss, but in the end a life that gives readers hope that during this dark time in the world history, people found light.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In writing All the Light There Was, I wasn’t interested in outsized heroism; I was interested in small defiant acts that make dignity and integrity possible in the face of a brutal occupation. It was a time when there was very little light, literally because of blackouts and shortages, and figuratively because of the repression and violence that accompanied collaborationist and Nazi rule." (Nancy Kricorian, author)

"All the Light There Was" is a wartime romance depicting the plight of the Armenians exiled to France after the massacre of 1915. Maral Pegorian is only fourteen when the German army invades Paris. This is the story of how her family survives and copes with the dangers of living in Occupied Paris during the Second World War.

Maral (the Armenian for “Maria”), her brother Missak (Michael) and her parents are close friends with the Kacherian family.

The reader is caught up in the events of a small family in a suburb of Paris during the war. When Zaven (Stephen)and Barkev (Bernard) Kacherian go into hiding to avoid the German conscription, we fear for them along with Maral. All the way through this novel we are pulling for Zaven to make it through, along with his brother Barkev.

“Have you heard anything?” I asked.

Auntie Shushan pulled a note from her pocket and handed it to me. “Someone slid this under the door last night.”

Written on the card were the words 'Don’t worry. We are fine. B & Z'.

“That’s not Zaven’s handwriting.”

”It’s Barkev’s. Telling a mother not to worry is like telling her not to breathe.”

I was so impressed when Maral's family ignore all danger to themselves and take in Claire, a five year old Jewish girl whose family is deported.

“One evening after Claire had been with us for several weeks, the child broke her characteristic silence at dinner, saying, “Mama told me that when the baby comes, she would wrap it in a blanket and let me hold it in my lap if I sit in the big chair. Papa said when the baby comes, I will help Mama like a big girl.”

“You are a very good girl,” I replied.

“When do you think they will come get me?” Claire asked.

We all looked uneasily at one another.

Finally Missak said, “Your mama and papa have gone on a long trip by train. It may take them a while to get back to Paris. But they asked us so send you for a visit to your aunt Myriam in Nice.”

A fast read for me, I found this novel hard to put down. It wasn't difficult reading and the plot moves quickly.

"All the Light There Was" illustrates through fictional characters perseverance in difficult times, stoicism through hardship (just getting enough food with rationing and shortages was a challenge), faithfulness to family and friends (and sometimes, strangers), in difficult times, and courage.

Along with Maral and her family, we feel like celebrating when the Allies land in France:

“Finally, on Thursday evening, the electricity came on again, and my father turned on the radio and twisted the dial until he found a voice. we heard an announcement from something calling itself the Radio of the French Nation saying that the first French troops led by General Leclerc had entered the capital...By Saturday evening, the liberation had been accomplished. That night all the churches of the city set their bells ringing. My father, Missak, and I headed to join a crowd at the Parc de Belleville, where we watched celebratory fireworks showering over the Hotel de Ville.

The following day we heard on the radio that General de Gaulle was on the Champs Elysees, and then the American soliders, who would soon be on their way to their next battle, streamed into Paris.”

The author writes about her research in this article from the “Armenian Weekly”:

"After I had read through an enormous stack of books—historical studies, memoirs, novels, and collections of letters—about what the French called Les Années Noires (The Dark Years), I planned a research trip to Paris. I wanted to walk the streets of Belleville, the neighborhood where the Pegorians lived. I wanted to visit the Lycée Victor Hugo where Maral was a student. Most importantly, I wanted to talk with Armenians who had lived through the Occupation.

While I was in Paris, my friend Hagop Papazian volunteered to be my “fixer.” He located an Armenian woman who was seven years old when the German troops had marched down the Rue de Belleville. She told me how her family had briefly hidden one of her schoolmates whose family had been arrested during the infamous Vel d’Hiv roundup of Jews in July 1942. from http://armenianweekly.com/2012/12/19/...

If you like World War 2 fiction, don't miss this one.

[ejtref · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting and beautiful - A book about survival, love, and Armenian family during the German occupation of Paris in WWII.

Nancy Kricorian’s story of the war comes from a unique perspective- one that shows us the horrifying similarities between the Armenian Genocide and WWII through young adult relationships, intergenerational family, and resistance.

I read this book partly because the few Armenian Genocide survivors in my family fled to Paris as well. It was easy to find pieces of home in both the cultural references and the struggle of survivors and their children. This is an important read, not just for those of us who will be reminded so much of our own grandparents, but for everyone.

Արցունքները իմաստ ունեն, բայց միայն նա, ով թափում է դրանք, հասկանում է (rough translation) // Tears have meaning but only he who sheds them understands.

[Levon Thomassian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an historian of WWII Armenian history, I highly recommend Kricorian's book. She really did her homework on this, and her historical references were dead on. On the surface, All The Light There Was is both an Armenian coming of age and love story taking place in German-occupied France. It's an historical fiction that's hard to put down once you start reading. You don't have to be an Armenian to appreciate this book, though I believe that Armenians do have an advantage due to Kricorian's use of Armenian cultural cues and references.

What I found most compelling, however, was how the characters who survived the Armenian Genocide emotionally and psychologically processed the German persecution of the French Jews, in essence leading them to relive the experience all over again.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my full review: http://bit.ly/11KIvWz

My opinion: This book was amazing. So intelligently written, it reminded me of the works of Chris Bohjalian. There was nothing sticky sweet about this book. It was an incredible raw look at life in France and the daily impact of trying to survive a movement that doesn't want you to survive. This book was intense and powerful when one thinks about the reality of Maral's situation.

Why the 4 stars instead of 5? There was some dryness to the writing that made me get lost periodically. It wasn't horrible, but it was present.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from a goodreads giveaway!
This book was beautiful and complex and I'm still crying. I definitely want to read the other things this author has written. There were lots of details and very realistic characters. It had a very unique perspective. There were some things that I called and others that completely shocked me. This is a book that I'll want to read over and over again.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid 4 star book until the last chapter, when it seemed like the author ran out of time and had to submit the book as is. What I particularly enjoyed was reading about a tight-knit Armenian community living in Paris during the Occupation.

[Lyn (Readinghearts) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems that the newest trend in Historical Fiction is novels about WWII. There have been a number of books on this subject lately, and a lot of them are very good. Nancy Kricorian's novel All the Light There Was is one of those books. The story is narrated by Maral, and teenage Armenian girl living in Paris at the time that the Nazi's invade France and the Occupation of Paris begins. Through Maral's eyes we see what it is like to have lived in Paris during the war. Her character allows us to experience the fears and deprivations of living through a war torn country.

I loved the way that Nancy tells the story of Maral, her family, and her friends in such a wonderfully personal way. Along with giving me a really good picture of what life was like in occupied Paris, it allowed me to really become familiar with the characters in the book. This personal way of telling the story reminded me a lot of the writing of Chris Bohjalian, who is one of my favorite authors. Like Chris, Nancy is able to tell a story in such a way that you really feel that it is happening right there in front of you to people that you know and love.

What sets Nancy's book apart from many of the others books currently out there that deal with life during WWII is the fact that Maral and her family are Armenian and not French. This fact adds a dimension to the book that other stories do not have. This is most evident in the way that her parents and the elders of the community relate this war and the actions of the Germans to the earlier Armenian Genocide that forced them to seek refuge in France in the first place. I thought that intertwining these two historical events was an excellent move that gave this story a bit more depth than it might have had otherwise. Along with the story of WWII, you got a bit of history about the Armenian Genocide, and you got a glimpse of life in a traditional Armenian family. Three for the price of one, so to speak.

My only disappointment in the story occurred toward the end. There was a part of the story there where I could pretty much guess what the outcome was going to be, but the narrative took its time getting there. As a result, I thought the story could have ended a bit earlier, or alternately, jumped over some of the last bit.

The true measure of a book, though, to me is whether it entices me to learn more about the era or events presented and/or entices me to seek out more of the author's books. In the case of All the Light There Was, it has done both. I am really excited that Nancy has written two other books and will be adding them to my "to read" list. In addition, I am curious about Armenian families and the Armenian Genocide and will be looking for more on that subject as well.

[Julie Durnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short historical fictional story of Armenian families in wartime Paris, Maral's viewpoint was well written of this heartbreaking time in history. The Armenian culture was depicted well without it being the main focus.

[Büşra]

Maral'ın işgal altındaki Fransa'da geçen erginleşme hikayesini anlatıyor roman. Savaşın, bir felaketin ardından hayatta kalmanın, bir savaşa tanıklık etmenin ne anlama geldiği üzerine düşünürken birbirini takip eden ölümlerden arta kalanları bir hafıza köşküne yerleştiriyor Maral. Kimi zaman ümitvar bir hayalin, kimi zaman bir kabusun peşi sıra odalarını adımladığımız, varlığını unutmanın imkansız olduğu, daima kendini hatırlatan bir köşk.

Ancak yazarın Maral'ın büyüme hikayesindeki uğrakları yalnızca yaşamındaki erkeklerle şekillendirmiş olmasının hikayenin güçlenmesinin önüne set çektiğini düşünmekten kendimi alamadım romanı okurken. Maral'ın direngenliğinin başkaca olasılıklara da kapı aralaması oldukça muhtemelken yazarın bu tür bir sapma yerine durağan bir yinelemeyi tercih etmesini kolaycı buldum.

Direnişe ilişkin sunulan tarihsel arka plan, Manuşyan ve yoldaşları hakkındaki bölümler, "Kızıl Afiş"in asıldığı duvarın önüne bırakılan çiçekler ise romanın unutamayacağım kısımları oldu.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful and poignant story set amidst the horror of Hitler’s Paris. It read like a true story and I’m sure it must parallel many events that actually did take place. It brings to mind the tragedy in our own country, families torn apart by our very own “Hitler”. At least now thousands of people are taking to the streets in protest, unlike the Holocaust. How different history might have been if fear hadn’t haunted the people who let their Jewish neighbors be carted away. Same with Manzanar, (it played a role in The City, which I just read) are we less fearful now or just more aware. These blights really get me on a soap box!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book about a Armenian family who tragically lost family members and friends at Buchenwald during world war 2 in evil Hitler propagated.

[Robbins Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maral and her brother Missak are the children of orphans; their parents' families were killed in the Armenian genocide, and came to Paris to begin a new life together. The family of four lives in a small apartment in Belleville along with the mother's sister - the children's Auntie Shakeh - who also survived the genocide. When the Germans invade Paris, the whole family endures the wartime conditions of hunger and fear, and Missak and his friends Zaven and Bartek (brothers) begin working for the Resistance.

Maral herself does not participate in Resistance activities; she is a "good girl" who is at the top of her class at school, the "scholar" of the family. Her sphere is small, made up of the close-knit community of Armenians in Paris, who are both French and separate from the French; they are more empathetic toward the plight of the Jews because of their own recent genocide. Maral is disturbed when her Jewish neighbors and classmates are rounded up and sent away, and her family harbors their Jewish neighbor's child until Missak arranges for her to be transported to a relative in the Free Zone. But the reality of the war does not really set in for Maral until it strikes even closer to home, when Zaven - to whom she is secretly engaged - and Bartek disappear.

The war dwarfs normal adolescent concerns, mostly, but Maral still must go about the business of growing up and making decisions both romantic and practical. Though she has close friends and is close to her parents, she operates independently, within the constraints of her community. She is more sensible than romantic, and always does the right thing; she's an easy character to root for, but she does not inspire with heroics. Which is not to say that All the Light There Was isn't a lovely, sad, accurate rendering of the Armenian community in Paris during and after WWII; it is, and I recommend it.

Quotes:

"The world is made of dark and light, my girl, and in the darkest times you have to believe the sun will come again, even if you yourself don't live to see it." (103)

"If an Armenian in France does something dishonorable, the French say he's a dirty immigrant. If he does something good, the French take the credit and say he's French." (142)

As I repeated the words of the liturgy, I understood that one of the sins of the living was to be still alive when the loved one was no longer walking the earth. (149)

When I was a schoolgirl, I had believed that happiness was a question of finding one's true love, the way it happened in so many of the novels I read. But...I realized you could love more than one person at the same time, and that marriage was not just about love. It was also about duty. (210)

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the Nazis marched on Paris on June 14, 1940, a four-year occupation of the city began, leaving a mark of hunger, despair, and brutality on its citizens. In the midst of it all is the Pegorian family, Armenian refugees who are at the center of All the Light There Was. Maral Pegorian is 14 when the occupation begins and her brother Missak is 16. For them, the real sign that the occupation has begun is not the sound of German boots marching through the streets, or the ominous sight of tanks, but their mother and Aunt Shakeh, who lives with them, rushing to the stores and frantically stocking up on as much food as they can find in preparation of the lean times that they know are to come. Maral's mother even spends the money that she was saving to buy a new sewing machine, a signal to her and Missak as to just how serious things are about to become......

Kricorian captures an important period in world history and infuses it with haunting beauty, sadness, and even romance. One of the most beautiful lines in the book is when a friend tells Maral "you are so beautifulthat you shed light on dark walls". Maral, her family, and her community find both small and large ways to find beauty and light in the darkness of Hitler's reign of terror. Her characters epitomize the struggle of those caught in the grip of Nazi Europe to maintain their dignity and their way of life despite ever-increasing difficulties and horrors around them.

To read my entire review, please visit my blog, Book Talk With Alana at http://booktalkwithalana.blogspot.com

[Laurie Larson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maral is fifteen, Armenian, and living in Paris at the time of the German occupation. Life is not easy in the cramped apartment she shares with her mother, father, aging aunt, and brother. Food is scarce and rationed, most meals consisting of bulgar and turnips. But her father, a cobbler, maintains a steady flow of customers, her mother is a seamstress and her aunt knits on commission, so at least at the beginning of the war, their lives maintain a semblance of normalcy.

Maral and her brother Missak have a sometimes contentious relationship, especially as she struggles to understand his participation in the Resistance: printing inflammatory pamphlets against the Nazis and chalking graffiti all over Paris. And Marel turns the head of Missak's best friend Zaven who becomes Marel's first love. Zavel and brother Barkev are also resisters and after an arrest are imprisoned in Paris--and then transported to Buchenwald. Marel continues her studies at the French lycee and university, waiting, waiting, waiting for her Zavig's return. But after months and months, Marel begins walking about (in secret) with Andon, an Armenian POW forced into conscription for the Nazis--a relationship frought with uncertainty and guilt ...
to read more about All the Light There Was, go to www.thisismysymphony.blogspot.com

[Magdelanye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it sucks when you write a review and it doesnt post.
will do again,but not now.


To flee or to take a stand?
That was the ultimate question facing Parisians as the Nazi herde approached. For the pegorian family,refugees of the Armenian holocaust,
"remaining where we had a roof over our heads...was better than wandering across the countryside to God knows where." The father decides:We're staying put." p3

This book is the account of that time,told from the point of view of Maral,the daughter of the family,and coloured by her naive romanticism.
The story suffers from this,as if the turmoil around her were merely the vivid backdrop for her complicated affairs. it is not modesty that prevents her from revealing just what it is about her that nets so much devotion,but whatever it was, i didn't pick up on it.Mara seemed to me more propelled by misguided feelings of loyalty and devotion than any political awareness.

It feels mean-spirited not to love this heartwarming book,especially because it feels so autobiographical. But it also feels cobbled together,a bit wooden and too cosy for comfort.

[Don O'goodreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

World War II. Paris. All the Light There Was by Nancy Kricorian serves up an fresh and innocent retelling through Maral Pegorian, a girl separated from Anne Frank by three years and 750 kilometers. Both children are keen observers of the people they live with, themselves, and the horror beyond their limited circle.

One of the appeals of children's stories about humanity's horrors is the myth/hope that children can pass through these events unscathed. This particular story has a happy ending, and I'd like to generalize to believe/hope that people really survive and live happily ever after.

Like Maral's father says of her child,

"Of course he's walking. What do you think? Babies eventually walk and talk and ... do what humans do."

If you are optimistic about what humans do, you will enjoy this book.

For more see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2013/0...

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on June 25, 2013. I received the book on July 6, 2013.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told from the viewpoint of Maral, a teenage girl in Paris during WW II, “All the Light There Was” offers the perspective of the Armenian minority community struggling to survive while war rages around them. Her parents and other adults in their community survived the Armenian genocide find themselves re-traumatize by the war. This impacts their reactions to the effects of war on their daily lives, the death of loved ones and their children’s choices. The family tires to do the right thing and refuses to give into the Germans while the young men in the family join the resistance. As the novel progresses and the war ends Marla grows from a young girl in love with her brother’s best friend to a woman and mother trying to find herself and her place in the Armenian tight knit community. An engaging novel that describes how one girl grows up under severe hardships with complicated family dynamics while remaining hopeful for true love and a better life.
I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway, thank you!

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good, but not fantastic. I've read quite a few historical fiction novels that take place during WWII, and this one is different because it's about an ordinary girl. Maral isn't Jewish, but she has friends and neighbors who are Jewish and are rounded up and deported by the Nazis. She's not active in the Resistance, but she has friends and family members who are. Maral is an ordinary girl, trying to live an ordinary life, and so we get a glimpse of what Parisian families struggled with during the German occupation - rationing, lack of work and money, fear for friends, uncertainty about the future. The introduction to Armenian food, culture, religion and history is also interesting, although given the time period, it focuses mostly on eating root vegetables, mourning traditions, the genocide that her parents survived. I spent a lot of the book feeling sad for Maral and the choices that she feels she has to make, but the ending left me feeling hopeful.

[Brenda Hawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told from the voice of a teenaged Armenia whose family lives in Paris during the Nazi occupation, this subtle novel is more about the emergence and maturing of love than actually World War II. Nicely written, the family intimacies and struggles are highlighted through the slow starvation of its members. The perils of resistance workers and the deportation of the French Jews play a minor role in how these events affect the author and her family. I enjoyed the novel but was a bit less moved and involved than I had hoped.

[Nancy Colello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and well written. It never occurred to me about how a group of people who recently survived a catastrophe of epic proportions (Armenian Genocide of 1915) would relive it again in Paris with the Nazi occupation during WWII. The references to historic figures important to the French resistance who were of Armenian ancestry was also interesting. Blending this history with the love story of a young couple and all the twists and turns that took made for a very captivating book. I highly recommend it.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I really liked this book and it's a super quick read. It reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but set in Paris. My only big problem with the book was the ending. The author wrote beautifully and engagingly, but I felt like the last 3-5 pages were rushed. I wish she would have spent more time on the ending, but what's written has been written.

[Aline Ohanesian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of genocide books. They fascinate me. And to a certain extent I've become a bit immune to their brand of tragedy, but I was reading this on a plane and broke down in tears, the ugly kind, right around page 103. It's a marvelous book.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good, somewhat predictable easy read. A page turning historical fiction novel with romance and heartbreak. I'm glad I read it. If you enjoy WWII era fiction with a drama or any historical drama, I recommend you read it.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. A little shallow but enjoyable to get a different perspective on Paris during the German occupation.I would recommend it.

[Jennifer Solheim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intimate snow globe of a tale about a young Armenian woman coming of age in Paris during the Vichy era.

[Mahayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I love novels set in WWII. It was an added bonus that it was also set in Paris. Now I can tell you I absolutely loved this book and will recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes Paris or WWII novels but I have to warn you from here on it is spoiler central.

The main character went through some changes that I will admit if I had been her age I don't think I could have done. She loses three people she loves throughout the time span this book. She has to talk her mother into coming back to them after her aunt dies because her mother loses her best friend and reason to live. Then as the war ends she finds out the man she held out for and was hoping would return died which was utterly heartbreaking.

Now the heartbreak does not end there. She marries the older brother and has a child only for the older brother to kill himself after 'his duty is fulfilled.' Then finally she marries the man she fell in love with towards the end of the war even though she thought it was wrong because he wasn't her first love. This book has you on a path of ups and downs and takes you along with its heartbreaks.

I cannot help but recommend this book to those that love war books. :)

[Nora Murad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amidst the plethora of literature that aims to humanize the inhumanity of the Holocaust by telling the story through the lens of a single family, "All the Light There Was" shows a refreshingly different perspective -- that of an Armenian family in France. I read the paperback version available through She Writes Press and found it an easy read with engaging characters whose loves and disappointments convey not the horror of camps that fills up so much of this genre, but the seemingly endless chronic fear and pervasive powerlessness that must have victimized millions who lived through this important period in world history. Nancy Kricorian shows the horror and complexity as well as humanity and hope through her account of the Pegorian family; and through the missed opportunities of Maral, the main character, she gives special insight into women's historical and cultural experiences. I enjoyed the book thoroughly.

[Erin N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had recently read 2 WWII books when I saw this on a shelf, so I figured I's let the streak continue.

I feel bad about how little I know about what went on outside of Germany/Austria/Hungary/Poland during WWII. It is horrible how many people were sent to work camps, killed, and affected in other ways.

This book was pretty depressing and definitly not a nice, sweet, simple romance. I didn't expect it to be all happiness given the time period and location, but I also didn't expect so much death. I was left feeling pretty hollow at the end, when I was expecting a happier ending given that the narrator said at the beginning that this is a story of how she met her husband...