The Nightingale
Ratings335
Average rating4.3
A #1 New York Times bestseller, Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year, and soon to be a major motion picture, this unforgettable novel of love and strength in the face of war has enthralled a generation.
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 a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
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 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. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II 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.
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Popular Reviews
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A novel that sets itself in a very stereotyped occupied France... It's an american fantasy of France. I couldn't believe in any of the characters, seems like the author's tried to make them deep and driven by strong emotions, but I felt it rang shallow, too forced and clumsy. The storylines are all too similar to many other tales of WW2, and could have been successful, if written with more personality and a unique angle.
Plus... some parts don't even make sense : anachronisms, sudden impossible change of sceneries, inconsistencies... :(
One line saves the start of the book though :
“I reach for the hanging handle that controls the attic steps. The stairs unfold from the ceiling like a gentleman extending his hand.”
Brilliant image. :)
It took me a while to get into this book, but eventually I was invested hook, line and sinker. I would have loved some more details in certain parts.
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