Book Review: The Nightingale

I was planning to wrap up my WWII phase after a deep study on the eastern front, however I just couldn't let go. As I mentioned before there are so many aspects of this historical conflict to tackle and I find myself more interested in ever. Perhaps it's because I like stories, and I see WWII as one of the greatest stories in human history. As terrible as it was we somehow got through it, and that is an encouraging thought. I find the civilian resistance to be a very intriguing aspect and that's why I decided to buy the book The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It's been on my list for some time now, and I figured I would tackle it during my long trip to Brazil a couple weeks ago. I nearly finished the 500-page book on the 4 long flights from Chicago to Bogota to Rio de Janeiro and back. It was quite the page turner.

The story takes place in occupied France 1940-1945 focusing on two sisters. One is a housewife teacher named Vianne, and her sister is a rebellious spirit named Isabelle. Naturally Isabelle finds her way into the undergroud resistance movement, helping downed airman escape to Spain. Her character is inspired by the Belgian female hero, Andree de Jongh who established the Comet Line to help soldiers escape thru the Pyrenes mountains. Meanwhile Vianne becomes a hero in her own right, after her husband becomes a POW. She must take care of her child, while also saving various other Jewish children. The story offers a unique perspective on the women during the war, who faced similar hardships as the men did. 

The Plot

An older lady in 1995 begins to recount her memories in France during the war. She has a son named Julien who helps her move into a retirement home before she travels to France for a special event that recognizes the heroes of the war. The narrator then takes the reader back to the 1940 rural town called Carriveau. Vianne lives in a charming cottage with her husband Antoine, and their 8 year old daughter Sophie. Vianne is a teacher while her husband is a mailman. However after the Nazis invade Poland, France declares war on Germany, and her husband is drafted into military service. 

Meanwhile her sister Isabelle is kicked out of yet another boarding school and she returns to visit her estranged father in Paris. Her dad is an alcoholic who has been deeply effected by WWI and the death of their mother. That night the Nazis begin their invasion of France, and Isabelle's father sends her away to her sister. The journey from Paris to Carriveau is a perilous one for Isabelle. Her car ride runs out of gas and is overrun by crowds of fleeing Parisians as the Nazis drop some aerial bombardments. She runs into a forest to hide where she meets a young man, named Gaeten roasting food over a fire. She is cautious at first, but also in need of some warmth and food and joins Gaeten by the fire who tells her of the resistance. Gaeten later helps her arrive to her sister's cottage and the two develop a romance. However the next morning Gaetan leaves her alone with her sister. 

Vianne and Isabelle have a cliche sister feud with each other, spiteful over past events. They couldn't be more opposite from one another, Vianne the more grounded one, while Isabelle the more non-traditional. Within a few days after the invasion their house is billeted by a German commander named Wolfgang Beck. Despite the unusual circumstances, Vianne must accept this new lodging arrangement with a total stranger. Thankfully however Beck is quite the gentlemen and doesn't interfere too much with Vianne's affairs. Isabelle however cannot stand the Nazi occupancy and eventual gets involved with some local resistance. She steals a bike and distributes anti-Nazi propaganda in the early mornings before she waits in line to collect food.

Isabelle is assigned a courier detail in Paris, where she gladly leaves her sister's cottage to return to her father. This time she does not accept no for an awnser and insists it is her father's duty to let her live there. Her father informs her that he is working for the Nazis, and to stay out of his way. Isabelle has plans of her own however as she dives deeper into the resistance cell. She finds an Allied soldier hiding one day and works with the resistance to help him escape. She then establishes an escape route of safe houses thru the Pyrenes mountains into Spain. Her network is eventually supported by British MI9 as well her father whom she discovers is working as a saboteur within the Nazi administrative offices. Isabelle saves over 100 downed airmen escape France and gets the codename "The Nightingale". She also has a passionate love affair with Gaetan during this time as well as reopens her father's book store. 

Meanwhile the Nazis begin to deport Jews from France and Vianne is concerned for her best friend Rachel. One night Beck asks Vianne to provide a list of all Jews in the town, which Vianne reluctantly must oblige. She feels terrible about it and warns Rachel, and they are able to arrange a hiding spot. However during a round-up the Nazis discover Rachel, and shoot and kill their daughter. Rachel is then taken into custody to be sent to the concentration camps, while Vianne takes her infant son Ari. It's a very difficult time and she eventually comes up with the idea to change Ari's name so as to hide his Jewish identity. Vianne is able to save 19 more Jewish children by changing their identity and hiding them in the local orphanage. 

One afternoon Isabelle's resistance work brings her to the town of Carriveau where she hides a downed airman near her sister's cottage. Beck hunts the enemy soldier to the location, but is shot dead by Isabelle. Vianne is furious that her sister has involved her in the murder of a German commander who was also a good man. She is fearful for her future now and sends Isabelle away. Thankfully Vianne is able to lie her way out of the SS questioning. However due to her attractive looks a new SS commander named Von Richter takes Beck's place to lodge into her home. He is much crueler then Beck and even threatens her various times for her involvement with the Jews. At one point he physically rapes her as a form of blackmail for her Jewish secrets. It is later revealed that she becomes pregnant from this act. 

During one of Isabelle's escape missions she is captured by the Gestapo and tortured in a fridge. Her father comes to her rescue by falsely confessing that he is the Nightingale they are seeking. The Nazis buy this confession and execute her father. He writes one final letter to his two daughters which states how he loves them and apologies for not being a good dad. Isabelle is then taken to the concentration camp Ravensbruck in Germany. There she struggles with terrible conditions of cold, starvation, and sickness such as typhus and pneumonia. She is able to make it to the end of the war and reunites with her sister. Antoine has also returned from the war a changed man but eager to forget the past. 

Isabelle reunites with Gaetan one final time, but must say goodbye to him and her sister before succumbing to her sickness. A few days later Jewish authorities thank Vianne for her courageous service in hiding Jewish children. They inform her that Rachel has died in the camps, and that they must take her son Ari away to live with his family in New York. This is of course devastating for Vianne who has adopted the young boy and come to love him, but she knows it must be done. She chooses however to never tell her husband about the rape who agrees it's best to just forget about the past. The book then closes back in present day France where Vianne meets with her French comrades who surived the war. They honor Isabelle for her courageous service and sacrifice but also recognize Vianne for her contribution to the resistance. At the event Vianne meets Gaetan and Ari which bring her great joy to see they are both healthy. She then begins to tell the full story to her son Julien, however keeping out the big detail that his father was the terrible Nazi von Richter.

The Review

The book was no doubt an easy to read page turner; an epic drama of love, war, and survival. It had great historical insight pertaining to the German occupancy of France, in both the rural and urban regions. For once it felt nice to get a proper citizen's perspective on the conflict, especially from the women's side. Most WWII stories recount the military operations, but there was an entirely seperate struggle happening on the homefront. This book provides an amazing fictional account of two normal people dealing with German occupancy in different ways. Vianne chooses to follow the rules for the sake of her daughter, while Isabelle chooses to resist. However both characters go thru change and development throughout the story.  

Vianne is the more grounded of the two sisters, and as a good mother she wants to protect her daughter Sophie and thus follows along with the new German laws. However the more injustice she sees (such as the deportation of Jews) the more willing she is to defy this terrible oppression. Even her daughter Sophie significantly matures throughout the story, much more than a typical teenage girl should have to endure. Sophie helps her mother deal with the hardships and even seems to know of the relationship she had with von Richter. This demonstrates the harsh reality of war from a civilian perspective. The fact that Sophie later dies of cancer is one of many tragic instances during this book.

The true hero of the book however is of course Isabelle, for her courageous role in the resistance. She was a free spirit seeking adventure inspired by her books and the life of WWI nurse Edith Cavell. After facing the hardships of hiking thru the cold mountains to rescue pilots she quickly learned this was no adventure, but still she remained true to her convictions. Her couregous passion and patriotic pride demonstrated the cause of many resistance fighters throughout the war. She also experienced her share of passionate love with Gaetan as any true revolutionary fighter should. Of course it was no surprise that she would meet a fateful tragic death in the end as a sacrifice for her courageous actions. 

It's no doubt Kristin Hannah intended to give a proper female heroine story here set during WWII. Both of her characters are heroes and it's quite refreshing to see this civilian perspective. Although the story is a fiction, it is a reference to many examples of the hardships endured by the citizens of war. Long lines to get food, caring for numerous children, sexual advances, even many instances of rape. Nearly a quarter of the resistance in Europe were women simply because they couldn't tolerate this lifestyle (and most the men were in the army). This book gives an incredible account of what these women had to endure. It's one of the fastest books I've ever read, and I can't want to see the movie adaptation in a couple years.