This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II

Before Charlie is taken to the concentration camp, Monsieur S. hides her in a secret location along with a Sinti family. The Sinti are a Romani subgroup, most of whom live in Germany and Central Europe. Along with the Jews, the Sinti were targeted by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The mother of the Sinti family gives Charlie slips of “magic paper”; Charlie explains, “[I]f I write a person’s name on the slip, I will appear to that person. Like a ghost” (167). These slips of magic paper are a motif that helps to illustrate the bond that endures between Alex and Charlie across time and space, just like their letters over the years. In practical terms, it also allows Fukuda to convey crucial information about Charlie that Alex would otherwise have no way of knowing, and thus the Sinti magic paper, while innately inexplicable, serves as a narrative vehicle that fuels Alex’s inner motivation to survive the horrors of war and find his beloved friend. Without this strategic device, Alex’s story and Charlie’s would remain isolated and disconnected from each other from the moment it becomes impossible for them to send and receive letters.