The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Get your tissues out, and be prepared to feel all of the emotions. This novel had me intrigued and rooting for different characters throughout it. As WW2 began, Vianne Mauriac’s husband went to the front line of the war. Vianne struggles to keep herself and her daughter safe. With little money and danger around them, she must make difficult decisions to keep them alive. Vianne’s sister, Isabelle Rossignol, is fighting her own battle when she joins the Resistance and fights for freedom and love. This story shows the heartbreaking and unspoken side of the women’s perspective during the second world war.

From the beginning, I was drawn to Vianne. I knew that Isabelle would go on to do amazing things. She was driven and eager and knew what she had to do to help others. But Vianne’s hidden struggles and the unseen fight she fought daily were heroic and marvellous because it was merely about surviving. I feel as though I always looked forward to the simplicity in Vianne’s story because although her efforts were not as noticed and appreciated as Isabelle’s, they were just as important.

History is always challenging to write about; you can’t make it up and must be very factual with information. I thought that Hannah did a great job with this and the references to the historical landmarks and places. I did a bit of research after and found that her timelines and locations were mainly spot on in the novel.

The only thing I didn’t like about the novel was how the beginning took me a few chapters to get into it. I wish it were a bit quicker, although it was a longer novel, and the rest of it did make up for that. I thought that the character development was superb. I laughed, I cried, and while this story wasn’t about happy endings, it was about surviving, and that is exactly what they did.

I give this book 4/5.