Your Next Read | The Nightingale

After I posted about Lilac Girls, SO many of you messaged me and told me I should really read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I have always loved any books that have to do with World War II, and especially those that tell the plight of everyday people. The Nightingale follows two sisters, Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac, who live in France during World War II. Vianne lives with her husband Antoine and their daughter in a small village named Carriveau. Her husband is called to the front lines and she is left behind to care for her daughter. She doesn't believe that their lives will change very much, but soon enough, trucks and tanks appear, and a German soldier takes up residence in her home. She must decide whether she will live with the enemy, or risk losing everything. 

Isabelle is young and rebellious, and she wants to have a purpose in the wat. She meets a man named Gäetan and falls hopelessly in love with him. When he betrays her, she joins the Resistance and risks her life repeatedly to save others. 

While the sisters paths and experiences are totally different, their resilience and love for their country and family is threaded in everything they do. They make choices that so many of us couldn't even dream of making, and they continue to put one foot in front of the other and move forward. 

I was completely heartbroken by this book, time and time again. And while I would like to remind myself that it is a work of fiction, the truth of the matter is that there were so many who lived stories like this. It was so well written and every detail was a thread in this beautifully woven tale. As heartbreaking as it was to read, it also gave me tremendous hope that there were SO many people in the world who are willing to risk everything for what is right. 

Would I recommend this book? Wholeheartedly. I've mentioned it before, but I think that every story to come out of the Holocaust, World War II, and the fight against Nazi occupation and the genocide of so many is a story that needs to be told. Because when we don't remember history, we allow it to repeat itself. 

Xoxo, 

​Jenise

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