The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
I have read other books by Kristin Hannah and she tells a good story. And I know that many people--including the rest of my book club--loved The Nightingale. But I found that it reminded me of a lot of other World War II-based books such as Resistance by Anita Shreve and Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.
The book tells the story of 2 small-town French sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, who have not had a close relationship since their mother died and their father handed them off to someone else to raise because he couldn't deal with parenthood in his grief. Vianne is the more conventional sister who goes for the traditional life of wife and mother, and Isabelle is more of a free spirit. When World War 2 breaks out, they respond in different ways. Vianne, whose husband is off in the army, has to let a Nazi billet in her house (or lose the house). Fortunately for her, he turns out to be a nice Nazi who is kind of appalled at what's going on. (A second Nazi who billets with her later in the book turns out not to be so nice.) Isabelle heads off to Paris to join the resistance. Each in her own way provides great service and the war does end up bringing them closer together.
It is a fairly quick read but as I say, I have enjoyed other books by this author more such as Winter Garden and Fly Away.
The book tells the story of 2 small-town French sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, who have not had a close relationship since their mother died and their father handed them off to someone else to raise because he couldn't deal with parenthood in his grief. Vianne is the more conventional sister who goes for the traditional life of wife and mother, and Isabelle is more of a free spirit. When World War 2 breaks out, they respond in different ways. Vianne, whose husband is off in the army, has to let a Nazi billet in her house (or lose the house). Fortunately for her, he turns out to be a nice Nazi who is kind of appalled at what's going on. (A second Nazi who billets with her later in the book turns out not to be so nice.) Isabelle heads off to Paris to join the resistance. Each in her own way provides great service and the war does end up bringing them closer together.
It is a fairly quick read but as I say, I have enjoyed other books by this author more such as Winter Garden and Fly Away.
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