The Nightingale – Kristen Hannah

9th October to 20th November ~ Audio-Book ~ Link to Goodreads

Synopsis:

Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her.

As the war progresses, the sisters’ relationship and strength are tested. With life changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Vianne and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.

Pre-Read thoughts: 

I downloaded the audio-book for this one after giving the physical copy a chance earlier this year. WW2 is a big buzzword for me so I have been wanting to give this one a second chance for a while because I know that it is very well loved.

The Good:

This book is a bitter-sweet heart warming and heart breaking novel about love, family, friendship and the strength of women in times of war. I loved the development of all the characters throughout but the main protagonist Vianne probably goes through the biggest changes. She starts out as quite a timid reserved woman who seemed more like a young girl. I got the sense that this was a person that would need constant looking after and needed someone there to prop her up and help her through any and every little thing. As the book progressed she really started to come into her own and I think it was a really raw and probably very realistic look at how war can change a person drastically. I think that Vianne was a great person to read about because for me everyone already seemed so sure about themselves and everything else so even though they all developed the change wasn’t as drastic.

The Bad:

I really struggled to read the physical edition of this book and even though I really enjoyed listening to the book I found I wasn’t quite connecting to the story and the plot or even the cast of characters like I normally would with WW2 fiction. I think that perhaps the middle dragged on a little longer than it needed to also.

Overall:

I really enjoyed the characters developments throughout the book, the plot was interesting and engaging and overall it really get hit me in the heart. However something just didn’t click with me that would make me want to give it higher in stars.

Have you read The Nightingale?

What are your thoughts?

Have you got any other WW2 fiction to recommend?