REVIEW: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

REVIEW

If you are following along, it's evident that I went on a Kristin Hannah kick; I was so curious about the novels that the interwebs kept raving about, so I got on the Libby waiting list for The Nightingale. Here's what I'm starting to understand about Kristin Hannah books: 

• prepare for the emotional rollercoaster
• are set in historically accurate and important time periods
• the novel will be well researched
• there's a twist (because, duh, what novel doesn't have that?), but it's usually not hard to predict

I can definitely see why readers fell in love with this novel: it features a time period that is important, and currently relevant: WWII, has two wildly different sisters who experience the war very differently, has lots of interesting and horrifying details, and spans decades--so it feels like a rich and satisfying read. I, too, enjoyed (if you can say that you enjoy reading about truly horrifying events?) reading this novel, and I'm pretty selective these days about which WWII novels I read. I'll be honest, I was prepared not to like it because I thought it might be overhyped, but it was actually really interesting and I cared about Vianne and Isabelle. They each had such varied and different experiences and handled the hard upbringing and hardships and obstacles of WWII very differently, and yet, the love that they had for each other and the people they surrounded themselves with was deep and abiding, though not always obvious to each other. 

The Nightingale probably won't beat out The Women, but it's probably on par with it. They're both memorable and engaging and will leave any reader with experiences that are hard to forget.

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SYNOPSIS:

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 good-bye 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, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, 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.