The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah — As mesmerizing as a Nightingale’s Song!
I first came across ‘The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah’ in a random list called ‘If you loved Kite Runner you would love these books’ and I knew right away that I had to get hold of this book! Then, it was gifted to me by someone who is so close to my heart and I had no option but to read it.
As an ardent reader of historical fiction and who had kept quite a lot of space on her shelf for world war fictions (yes! Including Book Thief, All the Lights we cannot see, and Lilac Girls) I wasn’t expecting much other than a good story and some insight! Well, ‘a good story’ is clearly an understatement and after two nights of binge-reading there I was wiping tears and blowing my nose.
If I could summarize it all in one sentence, The Nightingale is a women story! It depicts the less epitomized, unseen ‘women’s war’. It brings out the characters of those badass women and their resilience during the war.
Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.”
Set in the Nazi occupied France during the WW2 the book narrates the story of two sisters whose lives were turned upside down by the war, its diverse impacts and the bold decisions they take. Vianne is a typical housewife, waiting for her husband, a prisoner of war, while taking care of their child. Just when she thinks her life could not be more challenging, a Nazi Officer billets her home, leading to more complex ‘war’ and ‘human’ moments. Isabelle is the polar opposite of V, with fierce blood in her, yearning for emancipation. These women embark the essence of the French Resistance and the French resilience in the face of Nazi Atrocities. Isabelle actively joins the resistance, by assisting allied airmen to escape while the unresistant, more docile Vienne finds herself in doing the unthinkable and challenging the Nazi regime in her own way. I love how Hannah, brilliantly exposes the unimaginable limits the women, the underestimated gender in war, would go for survival, love, bravery and freedom. I love how she convinces the reader that heroes could come in all shapes and sizes.
This book is all about the vulnerability and the strength of human bonds. The oneness of different victims of a war they did not start, including some German Soldiers. This is why this book stands out, it depicts the grayness of people in a war which is black and white! And I can vouch you, it speaks right to that little corner in your heart called empathy. Sometimes, the book seemed so obviously obvious on one page and unexpectedly unexpected on the other. You are hooked by the narration, characters and emotions until the very end. There were times that I felt there were too many incidents happening but then again I thought, it was WW2 and of course too many unimaginable incidents happened that we still find hard to fathom. Yes, it is a fiction but it is partially based on Andrée de Jongh (1916–2007), an unsung hero who risked her life to help British and American airmen to escape Nazi-occupied Belgium and France. (Yes, google her, read about her, don’t let her memory bury in the sands of time)
The language Hannah uses is a fantasy fulfilled for a logophile (Someone who adores words! A word nerd ) like me. The plot would not have been this impactful if Kristin Hannah wasn’t the gifted storyteller that she is. She narrates every little detail of the plot so brilliantly, by the end of the book the characters felt like family to me.
“But when he looked at her — and she looked at him — they both knew that there was something worse than kissing the wrong person. It was wanting to.”
So, if you are looking for a book that will stay with you long after you have read it, do yourself a favour and read ‘The Nightingale’. It is as mesmerizing as a Nightingale’s song.
Have you rad Hannah’s work and what is your favourite? Let me know what you think!