The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Nightingale

by Kristin Hannah

The Bestselling Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale has captured the hearts of millions of readers becoming a number one bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women.

This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II, when women’s stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked . . . Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac are two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals and passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards survival, love and freedom in war-torn France.

It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

‘A rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival’ – Kate Morton, author of Homecoming

‘Movingly written and plotted with the heartless skill of a Greek tragedy, you’ll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob’ – Daily Mail

‘I loved The Nightingale . . . great characters, great plots, great emotions, who could ask for more in a novel?’ – Isabel Allende, bestselling author of The House of the Spirits

‘A griping tale of family, love, grief and forgiveness’ – Sunday Express

The Nightingale has sold more than 4 million copies globally, TIME, February 2021

Reviewed by Berls on

5 of 5 stars

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I seriously regret stalling so long to read this book! First, it was loaned to me by a coworker who had found out I liked to read, but I don't tend to be into WWII historical stories. Then, it's a BIG BOOK so it just looked intimidating. But thankfully y'all voted it for me to read in July's TBR list and even though I stalled so long that I'm reading it only in time for August's TBR review post, you forced me to finally start it. And OMG once I did! It's one of my top books of 2021! I clearly need to get out of my own way with big books since they make up the majority of my favorite reads this year!

This story gripped me from the start. We spend the majority of the book in occupied France, from the start of WWII to the finish. One of the brilliant parts are the flashes to modern US (1995 I believe it was) that gives you small glimpses of one of the characters after the war. I LOVE the way this book focuses on the female experience of WWII. I know that the Jewish experience is important - and definitely factors into the story in a huge way. I know that the male, soldier experience is important - and again, it shows up. But I think we've heard those stories so prominently and these stories - the story of the mother trying to protect her family, provide food and clothing, and survive the occupation with a soldier forcibly living in her home. And the story of the young girl determined to make a difference, using the very fact that females weren't suspected to be part of the underground revolution and save allied soldiers - those are not stories we've heard a lot.

The reason I don't tend to enjoy WWII stories are that they have so much brutality in them and that's just hard to read. The Nightengale does not skim over that brutality. It's very much present and made me anxious, upset, angry, and sad. But, what I will say for Kristin Hannah is that she managed to tell the story in such a way that you never lost hope. Not just because I knew WWII would eventually end, but because of the flashes to the future, you have every reason to hope and believe the characters you love will survive. I appreciated that hope balancing out the brutality.

A favorite read for 2021 and I am super excited to see that it will be a movie (starring the Dakota sisters!) in 2022. I think it will make a fantastic movie and I look forward to convincing Kiko to watch it :)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 25 August, 2021: Finished reading
  • 25 August, 2021: Reviewed