Book Review: The Nightingale

The Nightingale (2015) by Kristin Hannah

Historical Fiction | Fiction | WWII Fiction

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

About the Novel (From GoodReads):

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.

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.

"If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.” - The Nightingale

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My Review

Hannah's The Nightingale is an astoundingly good book. I expected it to be good, but the word "good" seems like a complete understatement. This book is beautiful, gutting, and awe-inspiring. Although there is romance, that isn't the main focus of the tale. Instead, Hannah brings her female characters and the terrible things they are all faced with during the Second World War to life. Few authors can tell a vivid tale the way Hannah did with this one, especially historical fiction. When I read it for the first time, I was in a book hangover for nearly a week. She brings her heroine to light in a dramatic way, and I loved it.

The Good Things

1. Fantastic story! I'm talking, seriously, remarkable.

2. The characters are in-depth and relatable.

The Bad Things

1. There are a few, minor inconsistencies concerning the weather and ages of minor characters, but they don't take away from the story.

2. It is a tear-jerker. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was NOT prepared.

My Final Rating

☆☆☆☆☆ (Goodreads)

☆☆☆☆☆ (Amazon)

☆☆☆☆☆ (Blog)

To purchase a copy from Amazon, click here.

Please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- The Nightingale. I would love to hear your thoughts!