The Nightingale

Autor: Kristin Hannah

Set in German-occupied France during World War II, the novel is a powerful story of two very different sisters who embark on their own separate paths of resistance and survival, highlighting the often unrecorded acts of heroism performed by women during wartime.  Vianne Mauriac: The older sister, a timid mother and wife whose husband, Antoine, is sent to the front lines of the war. When the German army invades and occupies her village and later requisitions her home, Vianne prioritizes survival and protecting her young daughter, doing whatever is necessary to keep her family safe in an increasingly dangerous world.  Isabelle Rossignol: The fiery, rebellious younger sister who is expelled from school in Paris for insubordination. When she returns home to Carriveau, she refuses to bow to the occupation. Frustrated by her sister’s caution, Isabelle joins the Resistance movement, first distributing propaganda and later helping downed Allied airmen escape through the dangerous Pyrenees mountains to Spain under the code name “The Nightingale”.