Published February 3rd 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.
Arlene's Thoughts
Wounds heals, love lasts, we remain…The Nightingale is a beautiful yet painful story about war, love, loss, sacrifice and survival. This will most definitely remain in my top picks for 2015. Unforgettable in so many ways.
This is my first novel by Kristin Hannah, but it most surely won’t be my last. Days after finishing The Nightingale, I find myself still contemplating the journey I took with the characters of this book. This story is rich with history, a detailed backdrop, dynamic characters, and captivating narrative that creates for a long lasting experience I won’t soon forget.
The story takes place at the beginning of World War 1 when Germany invades France and takes over the quiet village of Carriveau where Vianne lives with her husband and daughter. Life begins to gradually change as the war progresses and her husband is carted off to war. The Nazis begin to deplete the resources and people of France and as time marches on, Vianne and her sister Isabelle find themselves involved and affected by the war.
Vianne Mauriac is twenty-eight years old when the story commences. She is married and has a small child named Sophia. Vianne is given to fear and anxiety after losing her mother at a young age and later marrying the love of her life, only to be plagued by several miscarriages. Prior to the war, she was consumed with creating a safe and stable life for herself and her family and unfortunately that involved pushing her younger sister Isabelle away. When her husband is carted off to war, Vianne is left to keep her family and home together. She is forced to provide lodging to a German soldier, which creates hardships for her in many ways. After years of suffering and seeing those she cares for affected by the war, she finds a way to help those around her. By the end of the war, she was responsible for providing 19 Jewish children safe haven from concentration camps.
Isabelle is eighteen years old at the beginning of this novel. Pushed aside and disregarded by her father and sister after her mother died, it’s no surprise she becomes the bold and reckless sister. When offered a chance to be a part of the war by Gaetan she immediately rises to the occasion, only to be abandoned by him at first light. Isabelle is accustomed to people leaving her and setting her aside, however as this war becomes a part of life in France, she’s determined to find a way to be involved and have an impact. As a result, she becomes part of the rebellion for a free Paris, and is later coined The Nightingale where she works with those resisting the Nazis by creating a route to save downed airman. When the war is over, she was accounted for leading 117 airman to safe passage.
This story is about so many things, but most of all it’s about two sisters that are completely different yet find themselves impacted by a war that has consumed their lives. One sister is a rule follower and one is rebel. However, as the war becomes a part of life they each have an impact in doing something for their country, which leaves their mark and touches many families decades later.
I know I can’t do this book justice in any way, shape or form, so if I can translate one reaction I had to The Nightingale that would have to be AMAZING ! Kristin Hannah is a master story-teller that knows how to weave time, people, places and events in a way that creates an adventure that is hard to let go and forget. I have no doubt that The Nightingale will remain one of my top picks for this year. Absolute perfection!
5 Suns
I like a good cry once in awhile. What I wasn’t expecting was the sob fest I would get while reading this incredible book. It has been a long time since a book has brought me to so many tears, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Just that this book was heartbreaking and at times very difficult to read because of the subject matter. Most of all it was a complete eye opener for me.
I have never been a fan of historical fiction. But having read almost all of Hannah’s books, including Winter Garden, which was historical and I loved it, I decided to give this book a try.
History was my least favorite subject in school, and I retained very little information about the Holocaust and the Nazi’s, other than obviously how completely awful it was. Clearly Hannah did a lot of research for this novel because, even though it’s a work of fiction, it felt so true to life and it completely devastated me. The horror people went through during those times is unfathomable to me. And I lived it through the eyes of these two sisters. It broke my heart over and over again. So much that I can’t stop thinking about the book still today.
The book starts in 1995 from the POV of an older woman who’s son is about to put her in an assisted living facility, then it takes you to France in the 1940’s. As this woman is reminiscing about her life during WWII, you don’t know who she is until the very end of the book, and that was brilliant on Hannah’s part.
Although the flashbacks to France and the war are incredibly difficult to read, I couldn’t put the book down because I had to know who the woman was at the end. And I needed to know what happened to these two sisters in the story, more than I needed sleep last night. Seeing the war through their eyes was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Hannah’s prose is beautiful, her writing flawless. I have always loved her novels and have rarely read one without crying, but this book was by far the most emotional novel I’ve ever read. Beautiful and tragic at the same time, this book will stay with me for a very long time.
If you are a fan of historical fiction, this is a must read. If you haven’t read Kristin Hannah, I recommend you add her to your list immediately! Just make sure you have a box of tissues close by. And trust me, every single book of hers is worth all the tears!
5 Suns
No comments:
Post a Comment