"Some stories don't have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories."
- Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

Even though I'd never read any of her books, I'd relegated Kristin Hannah to the "drugstore fiction" category in my mind (in other words, something I'd never read). Wow -- was I wrong! I found myself emotionally moved by this book and I've been recommending it to several people.

Kristin Hannah brings us the hell of WWII through the eyes of two sisters in France -- Vianne and Isabelle.
Vianne and Isabelle couldn't be more different from each other. Vianne is married with a daughter. Though not a soldier, her husband is drafted to fight in the French army and is taken as a POW for the war's entirety. While he is away two different Nazi officers billet in Vianne's home. Through her eyes we see the toll on the home front -- ration cards; lack of basic services such as heat, electricity, and medicine; and the terror of seeing friends and neighbors deported to work camps. Vianne has a conservative nature and for most of the book advocates keeping her head down and mouth shut to avoid trouble.

Isabelle has been a fighter from the start. The younger of the sisters, she longs to have a direct role in the resistance movement and doesn't hesitate to speak out against Nazi atrocities. She ultimately does find a way to have an impact in France's rebellion against the occupying Germans.

I've read many WWII stories in the past couple of years -- All the Light We Cannot See, The Book Thief, Sarah's Key, etc. Even if you're feeling burnt out on WWII, put this one on your reading list and come back to it. It offers a new perspective from others in the genre.

While not a "love story" in the classic sense, The Nightingale and its characters have love at the core -- love of children, love of friends, love of siblings, love of spouses, love of country, and love of humanity. 5 stars.

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Disappointing for three reasons -
1. The time frame was too long and the pacing kept speeding up and slowing down. It felt like the author had a checklist of things that happened to the French during WW2 and went through and carefully added every possible event to these two sisters lives. It was not necessary for the characters to face every. single. calamity.

2. The relationships were heavily focused on but the historical details hardly at all. Isabelle is dashing hither and yon in near impossible escape plots and so the reader doesn't question the veracity of what she is doing we are just told but never shown how she pulls it off.

3. Gäetan. What a slime ball, it took me till 50% through before I was horrified to realise that I was supposed to be rooting for him. He was like the personification of a Red Flag, yeuckkk ( )

This is the first book that I've read by this author and I'm glad I did.
I was hooked right from the beginning. It's a dual timeline but there is very little in the present. I really enjoyed the voice of the narrator in the present day storyline and almost wished there had been a bit more present day.
I was very invested in the characters and really wanted to see what choices they made. It gave me a lot to think about as well. The two sisters took different views about what was happening. I wondered how much my view was colored because I knew the outcome. Would I have felt differently if I was in that situation? For example one sister thought everything would be over once the Germans occupied France and I wonder if she was just fooling herself or if she truly believed that.
Honestly, I've been getting a little tired of WW2 books but this felt like a fresh take on it. I don't know if it was because it took place in German occupied France which I haven't read a lot about it. I found it very interesting as I wasn't aware of some of the things that happened there.
The author did a great job of drawing you into the story and although there were parts that were difficult to read, I think she did a great job of telling the story without getting too graphic.
That said, there was a lot of heavy subject matter. A young child is shot, a woman is raped repeatedly although it is not graphic, and then there is the descriptions of the concentration camps.
There is also some language - approx 7 uses of blasphemy, F-word 3 times, approx 20 other profanity.
I would highly recommend this book, even though I did shed a few tears at the end and I don't normally like book that make me cry!
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 67
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185
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A fictional story with a factual background. A beautiful story that is difficult to read, because I know that things like this happened. What do you do when all your choices are bad? My heart ached for these two sisters, and for occupied France, and all the victims of the Holocaust. It just missed five stars for me because it dragged slightly in the middle. Kristin Hannah is/was a Romance author, and there were a few hints of that in the writing style, which also jarred a bit. But overall a very good read. ( )

If you like historical fiction; World War II stories, France, and well developed female characters, you’ll definitely like this one. ( )