Years ago my mother-in-law recommended The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and my mother-in-law is a reader of great and varied tastes. I found a signed copy at a library sale, and it's been sitting on my shelf. Several people in the Silent Book Club have been talking about the book, so I decided to settle in and read it. (It's a chilly winter in Kansas, BTW).I generally enjoy historical fiction, especially WWII historical fiction, and I've read numerous ones over the years - along with teaching ones like Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. Several years ago I read Sarah's Key and it still sticks with me.
The Nightingale is the story of two French sisters during the occupation of France by Germany. As young girls, their mother died and they were sent to live at other people's home and boarding schools. They grew in seperate directions - Vianne settles into the country-side and married, Isabelle rebels and gets kicked out of school. When the Germans invade Paris, Isabelle is sent to Vianne's, whose husband was sent to Germany. Not content to be invisible, Isabelle becomes part of the resistance and leads downed Allied pilots to Spain. Vianne's house is used to billet a German captain, who is nice and homesick. However, situations escalate and the sisters have to make difficult choices.
There is a little non-linear storytelling, as one of the sisters are invited to a reunion in the 1990s. The reader doesn't learn which one until the very end.
I enjoyed the book and was constantly asking myself, "What would I do? How much would I compromise?" And, that is one of the reasons we read fiction - to create empathy.
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