The Nightingale
The Bestselling Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
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4.7 • 556 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women.
This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II when women’s stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked . . . Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac are two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals and passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards survival, love and freedom in war-torn France.
Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
‘A rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival’ - Kate Morton
‘Movingly written and plotted with the heartless skill of a Greek tragedy, you’ll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob’ - Daily Mail
‘I loved The Nightingale . . . great characters, great plots, great emotions, who could ask for more in a novel?’ - Isabel Allende, bestselling author of The House of the Spirits
‘A gripping tale of family, love, grief and forgiveness’ - Sunday Express
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Gorgeously written, The Nightingale is a feast of images, scenes and emotions that whirl off the page. Set in WWII France, the novel tells the story of two sisters with very different personalities forced to draw upon their strengths and find their own path to resistance under the German occupation. We were completely absorbed by the development of Viann and Isabelle’s relationship and the tense, moving portrait of two women’s courage during one of history’s overwhelmingly dark periods.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are," Hannah's narrator, Viann Mauriac, proclaims as she looks back on her life in France. The bestselling author hits her stride in this page-turning tale about two sisters, one in the French countryside, the other in Paris, who show remarkable courage in the German occupation during WWII. Through Viann we learn how life was disrupted when husbands and fathers were forced to enlist while the Germans took over their towns and villages, billeting themselves in people's homes, gorging on food, and forcing the starved locals to wait in endless lines for rations. Viann's younger sister, Isabelle, always rebellious, joins the resistance in Paris, finds love with another resistance fighter, and risks her life guiding downed British and American paratroopers over the Pyrenees and out of France. Viann does her part too, saving 19 Jewish children by hiding them in a convent. Despite having a German officer in her own home, she also takes in a Jewish baby her best friend's son when his mother is sent to a concentration camp. The author ably depicts war's horrors through the eyes of these two women, whose strength of character shines through no matter their differences. Announced first printing of 350,000 copies.
Customer Reviews
The Nightingale
Heart rending in its detail. She captures the world of occupation like no other.
Amazing!
This book was so beautifully written and had me from page one! I loved the characters, the story and the ending. Simply stunning
The Nightingale
Beautifully written and compelling, I couldn’t put this book down. Truly emotionally charged story telling and brought to life war torn France and the fight for freedom by resistance fighters, told from the perspective of two very different sisters. I loved this book.