The light at your back

An invention conquers the world and determines the fate of two families willing to risk everything.

Wetzlar, Optical Works, Engineering Department, 1914: Inventor Oskar Barnack makes a breakthrough. Instead of continuing to go on photo safaris with a heavy glass plate camera, the precision mechanic has developed a compact device that fits in a jacket pocket. Ernst Leitz, the son of the company's founder, recognizes the potential and pushes forward the production of the Leica against all odds. The next generation is already in the wings: daughter Elsie has what it takes to take over the company, but her brothers are preferred. When the expropriation of the Leitz Works by the Nazis looms, Elsie stands up to the unjust system and falls into the clutches of the Gestapo. Siblings Dana and Milan also find themselves with nothing: as children of a Jewish shopkeeper, they are denied an education, and the family-run gift shop is looted. Yet the now world-famous Leica opens up new opportunities for them.

A grand social and family novel about the revolution of photography in the 20th century - excellently researched and compellingly told.