Book Bearings
The Nightingale
- 560 pages · about 9 hours
- First published 2015
- 42 editions
Bookshop.org links may earn us a commission. It supports independent bookstores and costs you nothing.
1 About this book
Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her.
As the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength are tested. With life changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Vianne and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.
- Romance
- Historical fiction
- Relationships
- Underground movements
- World War II
- Sisters
- War stories
- Contemporary Women
2 What to expect
A historical novel of occupied France in the Second World War, following two very different sisters, one in a country village and one drawn to the Resistance. It is about women's wartime courage, family bonds and the cost of survival, with hunger, deportation, sexual violence and loss along the way. The telling is emotional and fast for its length, sentimental in places, and it is very sad.
Good for readers who want: World War II historical fiction, sisters and courage, and an emotional read.
3 About Kristin Hannah
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 More by Kristin Hannah
5 Similar books
- The Japanese lover by Isabel Allende
- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
- Doctor Zhivago by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
- Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
- White Fang by Jack London
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys