The Nightingale
2000
- civilians in war
- fiction
- fiction / contemporary women
- world war (1939-1945) fast (ocolc)fst01180924
- underground movements
- women in war
- world war, 1939-1945
- sisters
- history
- anti-nazi movement
The story
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.
What it’s like
Warm domestic textures, bread, wool and woodsmoke in a country farmhouse, give way to the cold grey dread of occupied France: frost on cobblestones, blackout nights, mud and rain on the roads toward the mountains. The prose is plain, emotive and direct, with long chapters that alternate between two sisters and lean into heartbreak and quiet resolve. Its vibe is somber, tender and determined, best read over a long weekend or on a train when you want to be fully absorbed rather than soothed. Intensity is high: violence is frequent and often brutal, with executions, deportation, starvation and sexual violence referenced or threatened, and grief is handled without flinching. Loyalty and hope run through it, but this is not gentle reading. It suits readers who want war fiction centred on ordinary women, who can sit with sustained harrowing material, and who are drawn to a relationship-driven story of courage and sacrifice.
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