Originally Read and Reviewed in 2016.
Title: The Nightingale
Author: Kristin Hannah
My Star Rating: 5/5 Stars
Tidbit: Historical Fiction set in WW2 France. A story of strong women and their resistance to German occupation, though each resisted in her own way.
2022 Commentary: Even after almost 6 years, this book remains one of my all-time favorites. I've never forgotten it, and I have recommended it so many times. Such a powerful book.
My original review:
In a world at war, nothing is guaranteed. When
Vianne Mauriac's husband Antoine is called up to fight for France, he
leaves his wife and daughter to care for their beautiful country estate
Le Jardin. At first, all is well. Vianne has a good job as a teacher and
her best friend lives next door. She has a beautiful and fruitful
garden and she and Sophie want for little except the presence of their
husband and father.
But soon France falls to the Germans, and
Germany occupies the beautiful country. Isabelle, Vianne's impulsive and
often-reckless sister, arrives from a war-torn Paris and moves into Le
Jardin, and soon a German captain billets at the home, a fact Vianne has
no choice but to accept. A house full of love becomes a house full of
tension as Vianne tries to keep Isabelle from saying anything in front
of the Captain that will bring punishment for her family.
Meanwhile,
Isabelle yearns to join the war and fight for French freedom. With that
desire burning in her heart, she lies to Vianne and returns to Paris,
joining the French Resistance and ultimately risking her life again and
again to help some of the Allies escape France. Her hope is that her
efforts will help the Allies win the war against Germany and liberate
German-occupied France where the food and supplies for the French are as
rare as they are plentiful for the Germans who occupy.
In a war
that seems endless, each woman finds herself choosing between impossible
choices; hoping against hope that one day, life will be "normal" once
again. Both women fight the war in their own way, choosing to believe
and hope for a future.
***Initially, I thought I'd give this a
4.5. But upon reflection, it occurred to me that this novel actually
made me cry. That never happens. And so I decided it must be a 5. It
impacted me. A lot. There were things I wish weren't in the book; but
I'm a realist, and I realize that what was depicted in this novel is
very likely how things actually happened. Even if I wish we, as humans,
didn't have the capability to do such horrors to each other. But what a
beautiful message of love and the endurance of the human spirit. Hannah
has a beautiful way of wording things in many parts -- and I knew that
right from the opening chapter in which I read: "...I know that grief,
like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us." The Nightingale is a book that will stay with me for a long, long time.
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