In the book, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, one of the main characters, Marie-Laure LeBlanc lives in her great-uncle's house after fleeing Paris, in Saint-Malo. The address is Number 4 rue Vauborel, and we found it. Her room was on the sixth floor, which has the dormer-ed window. In the book there is a small grotto where she studies the snails and escapes from a villain, as she possesses the key. I found two such grottoes today, and these might be the one referred to in the novel. I have read this book before (that is what prompted our visit here), and Angelina and I are reading it together right now. It is fun to be in a place that inspired such a wonderful piece of literature, and if you have not read it, we highly suggest you do!
*It is historical fiction, but we really did bomb this beautiful sea side city in late August, 1944. It was occupied by the Germans when American artillery units (shelling & bombing) and British naval gunfire destroyed all but 182 buildings out of 865. German occupied, Saint-Malo surrendered on August 17, 1944. Saint-Malo was rebuilt over a twelve year period from 1948-1960. The view is that Allied troops over estimated the number of German soldiers present in Saint-Malo, but they left, right?
-Mona & Angelina