This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II

Frank finally writes to Alex in a letter dated February 22, 1945, and apologizes for not writing back for so long. Mr. Maki has finally been brought to Manzanar, and Frank knows it is because of Alex’s influence. Nursing Mr. Maki back to health has given Mrs. Maki a new lease on life. Frank calls Alex a hero and explains that he has not written until now because he was ashamed of himself. He is proud of Alex and looks up to him now. He includes Charlie’s old Nic address in a postscript.

In another postscript, Frank says that he found the same news article about Jews being sent to extermination camps that Alex read before enlisting. He now understands Alex’s reasons for enlisting in the army, and he hopes that Alex finds what he is looking for.

On leave in Nice, Alex searches for Monsieur Shäfer. With difficulty, and using context clues from Charlie’s letters, Alex finds the right place, although Shäfer is reluctant to speak with him at first.

Shäfer eventually invites Alex inside. Alex sees an old photograph of Shäfer and Mr. Lévy together when they were younger, and Shäfer explains that after the roundup at the Velodrome, Charlie was taken to Auschwitz, and although Shäfer used his connections to try to rescue her, he was only able to get her onto a train, which turned out to be going to Dachau. He does not know what happened to Charlie after that; he thinks she is dead. Shäfer deeply regrets not trying harder to convince Mr. Lévy to flee to Nice. Alex tries to reassure him. His gut tells him that Charlie is still alive.

Before Alex leaves, Shäfer gives him the final letter that Charlie was writing when the police took her away. He tells Alex that his letters were a joy in Charlie’s life, especially toward the end. Shäfer also passes along one last message from Charlie to Alex, saying that Charlie wanted Alex to know that she is, “still the leaping frog” (344). Alex’s eyes tear up.

Charlie’s final letter was written on the 93rd day of being in hiding. She writes that she feels like a ghost, and that the only thing maintaining her mental health is thinking about a possible future with Alex. Even though Paris betrayed her, she still loves it. She describes all of the places she wants to take Alex. The letter ends abruptly.

Defeat hangs in the air in Germany, and Alex feels defeated as well. Alex and Company C leave the 442nd and head into Bavaria. In their jeep, Clay Ohtani and Chuck Yamazaki joke about what they will do to Hitler if they find him. As they drive, they come upon piles of human corpses buried under snow. Eventually, they stumble upon Dachau concentration camp and approach it, even though it is off their route. The camp is unguarded and is populated only by the suffering, emaciated prisoners. Alex and the other soldiers are horrified. Alex ignores orders and shoots the lock off the gate.

They walk through the camp, staring in horror at what the Germans have done. The soldiers distribute what minimal supplies they have, waiting for backup from the army. Outside the camp, Alex sees a group of prisoners beginning to devour a dead horse, cutting it up with rocks. Alex radios headquarters: “Send help. Send lots of food. Send lots of clothes. Send med teams. Good God. Send everything” (355).

Army trucks bring supplies six hours later, but they soon learn that they cannot feed the prisoners; their starvation is so far advanced that gorging themselves on food at this point might actually kill them. Against the soldier’s wishes, they take the food away, and Alex searches in vain for Charlie. That night, Alex gets the same feeling in his chest as the other times Charlie appeared to him, but it is more intense than ever. He scuffles with a fellow soldier to take his motorcycle, and he rides off into the freezing night.

The motorcycle runs out of gas. Alex is sure Charlie is nearby, but when he looks around, he only finds frozen corpses, including one of a young Jewish boy hunkered down by a tree. He tries in vain to dig a hole to give the boy a proper burial and finally drapes his jacket over the boy and heads back to camp. The portrait of Charlie remains in the pocket of the jacket, there in the silence and the snow.

Alex writes to Frank that he is being discharged and will be back home on Bainbridge Island in a few short weeks. First, however, he is going to Paris. He does not think that Charlie is still alive, but he wants to fulfill a promise that he made to her.

Alex is astonished that Paris closely matches what he imagined from Charlie’s letters. He manages to find Charlie’s apartment building. The concierge barely looks at him when he enters, and he takes the elevator up to her floor. He rings the doorbell. Another concierge answers, and she is shocked to recognize him as Alex Maki. Alex enters the apartment, looking for signs of Charlie. In the back of a picture frame, he finds a picture of Charlie’s family, and he sees Charlie’s face for the first time. She looks exactly as he imagined her.

With difficulty, the concierge explains to Alex that she does not know what happened to the family after the Velodrome roundup. Alex wants to tell her how urgent it is for him to find Charlie, but he does not know how to say it in French. Finally, she delivers the devastating news that Charlie is dead, and the world crashes down around Alex. He gets up to leave, but the concierge leads him to Charlie’s room. Even though German soldiers have used the apartment since Charlie’s family was taken away, her room has been sealed off to save on heating costs and it now stands as a time capsule of Charlie’s last days in Paris. Alex is amazed to see that she has kept each and every one of the drawings he has sent her throughout the years. Collapsing at her desk, the weight of her loss and what it means crushes him. He puts his head down on the desk where she wrote her letters and cries.

Back in America, Alex discovers that he has become something he never thought he would: a war hero. The heroic exploits of the 442nd regiment are well known throughout the country, though he still experiences racism when he returns.

In the same place where he departed with his family all those years ago, he is greeted by his dog, Hero, old but still alive. He sees Frank leaning against a pole, and the two brothers greet each other. Their handshake turns into a tight embrace.

Several years later, Alex visits the beach at night. Stepping into the freezing water, he floats a paper lantern constructed with the pages of his latest comic book. He lights it and sends it out to sea. Even after all these years, Alex imagines Charlie finding it by the banks of the Seine.