Kristin Hannah: The Nightingale (July 2024)

The Nightingale is set in a small town in France during the German occupation in WW2 and is related through the experience of a family, a widowed father and his two daughters. Their troubles before the war are well-told and the complex family dynamics are never over-simplified by the author. Resentments have accumulated following the death of the mother, the father’s inability to care for his children and 14 year old Vianne’s seeming rejection of 4 year old Isabelle who grows into a fearless young woman.

Vianne remains in the family home and has a happy marriage and a daughter of her own.

Each of them takes on the fight against the German army and, of course, at great risk of capture, torture and death by firing squad or in a concentration camp.

The father forges false documents, Vianne helps in the sheltering of Jewish children and Isabelle guides over one hundred downed allied airmen to safety across the Pyrenees. The writer was inspired by real-life heroine Andree de Jongh (1916-2007) who saved some 118 airmen in this way.

For us, however, the most compelling aspect of the book was it’s depiction of the horrors of life under Nazi occupation.

The refugees trying to flee Paris with their few belongings whilst being bombed, the very near starvation faced through the German military taking their food, casual looting of their homes, constant danger and the sheer daily humiliations.

The courage and resilience of all the population and the bravery of the men and women in the Resistance should always be remembered and this novel pays tribute to them. Often those who go through the trauma of war wish to put it behind them and just get on with their lives.

We had a few quibbles about the Nightingale: some historical inaccuracies, it dragged a little in parts and it was not the best of writing style, but it was good page-turning story-telling.

4/5