The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Europe, 1939 – As her husband, Antoine Mauriac departs for the Front, Vianne Mauriac bids him farewell in the peaceful village of Carriveau. The Nazis won’t attack France, in her opinion. But, they do invade in large numbers of marching soldiers, convoys of trucks and tanks, planes that fill the sky and rain bombs on defenceless people. Vianne and her daughter are forced to coexist with the enemy when a German captain seizes their home. Otherwise, they risk losing everything. She is compelled to make one impossible decision after another in order to keep her family alive when they are without food, money, or hope and as danger mounts all around them.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
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Isabelle, Vianne’s sister, is a disobedient 18-year-old woman who is pursuing her goals with all the wild ardour of adolescence. She meets Gäetan, a partisan who thinks the French can fight the Nazis from within France, while thousands of Parisians march into the unknowable terrors of war, and she falls in love as only the young can—completely. Isabelle joins the Resistance after he betrays her, never looks back, and repeatedly puts her life in danger to defend others.
Bestselling author Kristin Hannah vividly depicts the vast scope of World War II while illuminating a personal aspect of history that is rarely seen: the women’s struggle.
The Nightingale is a heartbreakingly beautiful book that honours the tenacity of women and the resiliency of the human spirit. It tells the stories of two sisters who are separated by time, experience, ideals, passion, and circumstance, and who each set out on a perilous journey toward survival, love, and freedom in a war-torn, German-occupied France. It is a book for a lifetime and one for everyone.
Vianne Mauriac and Isabelle Rossingol, two sisters, are at the centre of the narrative. The more mature and responsible of the two, Vianne, lives a tranquil and content life in the French countryside with her husband and children. Her life is turned upside down as a result of her husband, Antoine, being sent to fight for France under the danger of oncoming war. In order to protect her small daughter, Sophie, and survive in these new circumstances as Germany begins to seize France, Vianne must learn new skills. The younger, more rebellious sister, Isabelle, has spent the majority of her youth being transferred from one boarding school to another. Isabelle’s sister and their father had largely abandoned her after their mother passed away when she was only 4 years old.
Neither of them knew how to deal with the boisterous girl. Isabelle is not content to merely observe as her beloved Paris is occupied by the enemy when the war begins. Isabelle makes some unexpected decisions that will permanently change the course of her life out of a desire to make a difference in the battle. Although Vianne and Isabelle’s experiences during the war were very different, I was interested and motivated by each. There was a lot of contention between the two because of their circumstances, decisions, and turbulent past.
