REVIEW: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

In The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Viann Mauriac and her younger sister Isabelle Rossignol grew up in France just before the start of World War II. They were as different as night and day, with Viann becoming a loving mother and wife at a tender age, and Isabelle rebelling against every form of structure in her life. As their beloved homeland of France becomes torn apart with the Nazi occupation, they each struggle to find a way to withstand the horrors they must face everyday in this new terrifying world.

‘…She would no longer be Isabelle Rossignol, the girl in the bookshop who lived on the avenue de la Bourdonnais. From now on, she was Juliette Gervaise, code name the Nightingale.’

Isabelle finds her place among the Free France faction, those assisting downed airmen fighting for their cause, and also getting the word out to local townsfolk interested in defeating Germany. Putting herself at risk has never been a deterrence for Isabelle, but falling in love unexpectedly makes her look at her underground efforts and how it could also affect Viann, for the first time. Viann herself is left at home with her young daughter Sophie after her husband Antoine is forced to become a soldier. The years that follow prove to be excruciating in the lack of food, heat and money, but more so in dealing daily with the enemy in Carriveau as Viann watches her friends being taken away, wondering if she will be next.

‘I don’t know the right thing to do anymore. I want to protect Sophie and keep her safe, but what good is safety if she has to grow up in a world where people disappear without a trace because they pray to a different God?’

The Nightingale is an impressive work of historical fiction. This is the tale of two sisters on different paths, both of whom had to make devastating choices to keep themselves and their loved ones safe during World War II, and the consequences rendered by those decisions.

‘I know now what matters, and it is not what I have lost. It is my memories. Wounds heal. Love lasts. We remain.’

I feel I have to start off by saying that this novel is very important. It shows the courage of how two women survived against all odds during a time when the depravity of a large group took over many countries, including France. It also shows us how women played a significant role in helping to overcome enemy forces and win the war. However, this is NOT an easy book to read. Not just on an emotional level, even though Isabelle and Viann’s story left me drained and completely at a loss for a while. No, the atrocities that people had to endure, both in their own homes and villages and in concentration camps, were described here in such vivid detail that it made my heart break for them but also marvel at the strength it took to persevere.

Author Kristin Hannah did a fantastic job setting up the story. We began actually in 1995, fifty years after the war ended, and we knew we were seeing life through the eyes of one of the sisters, who at that point lived in the United States. But there was a question as to whether it was Isabelle or Viann, especially as we went back to 1939 and saw how things occurred through both their POVs. There were also flash-forward moments scattered strategically throughout the book which helped to enhance the overall plot. The storytelling was simply incredibe, with the amount of detail that was added, making Viann and Isabelle’s plight come to life. There were times when I really felt like I was there with them, feeling their fears, their heartbreak and their loss.

Isabelle and Viann were such intriguing characters in their own right, let alone being part of the events of the Holocaust. I was impressed with how strong they both were in their own individual way. Viann had a mother’s strength and caring demeanor which proved to be both a blessing and a curse as the war ravaged her homeland, her friends and family. But she was amazing in what she was able to accomplish for her town of Carriveau. Isabelle, conversely, was all bravado at first, running headlong into the Free France cause with no regard for her safety. The change in her over the course of the war was striking, proving that she could be both brave and thoughtful in her efforts to assist her country.

I honestly can’t say enough wonderful things about The Nightingale. It was an epic journey, equal parts heart-wrenching and awe-inspiring, but one which I think historical fiction lovers will wholeheartedly embrace.

Book Info:

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

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an epic novel of love and war, spanning from the 1940s to the present day, and the secret lives of those who live in a small French town.

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.