The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah has written an impressive twenty-three standalone novels as well as a duology, Girls of Firefly Lane, that was made into a Netflix series. The Nightingale is not her most recent novel, having been published in 2015, but it is still very popular. It is a New York Times bestseller as well as being named Best Book of the Year by Wall Street Journal and Goodreads Best Historical Novel of the Year. With the impending release of The Nightingale as a major motion picture in February of 2027, starring sisters Elle and Dakota Fanning, the book's popularity has only grown. The Nightingale deals with alcoholism, bullying and gun violence, cancer, child abuse and death, genocide and hate crimes, infertility and miscarriage, physical abuse, terminal illness, grief, antisemitism, rape and sexual assault, violence, blood, police brutality, death of a parent, murder, abandonment, pregnancy, war, injury detail, and deportation.

Isabelle Rossignol has been kicked out of every boarding school she's ever attended, which is several - since her father certainly does not want Isabelle to live with him. Unfortunately for her, this most recent expulsion comes just before the Nazis take Paris. She is sent to live with her elder sister Vianne Mouriac and Vianne's daughter, the three of them alone as Vianne's husband has been conscripted by the French army. The sisters have never been close, but their relationship becomes even more wrought as Isabelle's inability to hold her tongue could now get them all killed. As the war wages on and France is further overrun by Nazis, the sisters discover their own ways to fight the atrocities they are surrounded by and find any way they can to survive.

It is no surprise that this book is so popular, it was incredible. First off, we are dealing with the extremely fraught time of the German invasion and subsequent occupation of France. The sisters in the book are very well developed with strengths and ample, easily identifiable weaknesses, as well as a tumultuous back story. The journeys they take are wholly separate because the women are completely different women and of course their lives would lead them down different paths, yet they are both fairly believable for the characters and allow each character for the growth that is needed. As the book progresses, I felt real anxiety for the characters and a tension that few authors can achieve. I never felt like the story was slow or difficult to follow and the setting was well built. In short, I thought that the book was very well done and I enjoyed it immensely. I laughed (although not often - it is a story about World War II), I cried, I ugly cried, I tried to get the characters to see reason as I cried. There was a lot going on and I thought it was really well done. That being said, I have heard many comparisons between The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and I would like to add my two cents. In my opinion, while both stories deal primarily with the German occupation of France, they cannot be compared. The two are wholly different. Anthony Doerr's novel is absolutely beautiful, full of lovely prose and it handles the war in a very gentle way. But I think that gentleness was sometimes a disservice, making the cruelty of the war seem like less than it was. Kristin Hannah does not shy away from the uglier parts but she manages them in a way that makes it clear what was happening while not being particularly gruesome. I loved All the Light We Cannot See but I cannot help but think we need to ensure the uglier parts of history are not forgotten.

I'm giving The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 5 stars. I fully recommend it. It was not always easy to read but it was entirely worth it.

For more from Kristin Hannah, see her website at https://kristinhannah.com/

Pairs well with peas with lemon and tarragon and owning a shiny, blue bicycle.

My favorite quotes:

"'Are you a good man [...]?' 'I used to think so.'"

"People had called Isabelle impetuous for as long as she could remember. And then rash and, most recently, reckless. In the past year, she had grown up enough to see the truth of it."

Review of The Women by Kristin Hannah