The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Published February 3, 2015 by St. Martin’s Press

In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime. 

My Thoughts….

Very rarely do I read a book in one day.    The Nightingale is a book that I could not put down.   The setting is one of my favorites, WW II and France.  I cried at points of this book, I was in awe of Viann and Isabelle’s strength, and I loved the way the children in this story were able to be so strong.   This is the story of Viann and Isabelle and how they managed to live through the horror of Nazi occupation.   I cannot even begin to understand all of what they had to do and how they had to live but I certainly can understand why they did what they did during this time.

Viann, being a mother and wife, was the character I could relate most too but I wanted to think that if I was in France during the occupation I could be as strong as Isabelle.     Viann did everything she could to keep her daughter safe and healthy during a time when it was not easy.   I was in awe of what she gave up to do this.   She put her own beliefs aside and did what the Nazi’s said just to keep them in their own house and to allow them to stay together.     Isabelle, being a single woman, stepped out of the normal woman’s role and stepped into a much more dangerous role while helping those who were fighting against the Nazi’s.   Isabelle was amazing.   A woman in the 40’s did not usually work outside the home, did not fight wars, and certainly did not save downed pilots.  

Kristin Hannah is one of my all time favorite authors.    She is an author that I know will always tug at my heart strings and keep me entertained.   When I see a book by Kristin I know that it is a must read.  

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