If you are at all interested in historical fiction related to World War II (or if you’re just looking to read a great book), I highly recommend Kristin Hannah’s the Nightingale. It tells the compelling story of two sisters living under Nazi occupied France and their daily struggle to survive. Full of heart, horror, and humanity, the Nightingale is an expertly written story about family, identity, and the terrible strain of war behind the front lines.
“In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real–and deadly–consequences.”
“In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are.”
The Nightingale is available to checkout from the Library as a Book Club Kit! If you are interested in reserving a kit for other Kristen Hannah books, or books similar the The Nightingale, here are a few titles we have available:
Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah
Officer and Spy by Robert Harris
Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
Citizens of London: the Americans Who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson
Click here to reserve a kit today!
Thanks for reading!
-George, FTPL
