The Nightingale
This is the story of the Rossignol family during WWII in Nazi-occupied France. It focuses mainly on the two Rossignol sisters. Isabelle is the rebellious, anger-filled younger sister, who creates an escape route from France, for rescued downed airmen, as her way of fighting the enemy, but also of getting back at the family she believes rejected her. In contrast to Isabelle is meek older sister Viann, who just wants to survive the German occupation of her village and her own home and protect her daughter. Viann, however, is forced out of the shadows and must fight in her own way, when she is called on to protect the son of a Jewish friend. Ultimately, she begins to protect other Jewish children, too.
The novel also concentrates on their father, Julien, a broken man who has turned to drink to drown his own horrors of war and the loss of his wife. The novel is bracketed by the narrative of one of the two sisters 50 years after the war. The reader doesn’t find out which sister has survived until the very last page.
The Nightingale is a saga that also presents many other characters, including a sympathetic German soldier. Kristin Hannah creates a clear and precise picture of the occupations of Carriveau and Paris, including a somber image of the French trying to hold onto their way of life. But she moves through all the storylines at an equal, often leisurely pace that sometimes robs the peaks of emotional punch.
This is a story of survival, rebellion, and redemption that recreates the time, place and horrors. Kristin Hannah does ultimately deliver a big emotional moment at the end when the story is wrapped up and the identity of the surviving sister revealed.
