War, love & tough decisions: ‘The Nightingale’ by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah The Nightingale is a beautiful story of bravery, familial bonds, love and loss set in World War II. The story alternates between the narratives of two sisters living in Nazi occupied France. Isabelle and Vianne are not one bit alike; one stubbornly brave but lonely and the other wholesome and kind, but meek. Their differences are exacerbated during the circumstances of war, the other not knowing the contributions the other was making. Isabelle, a young woman in the French resistance and Vianne, a married woman whose husband is a prisoner of war and who has a nazi captain billeted at her home. They both defy expectations placed on them by themselves and others. Isabelle and Vianne deal with life and death decisions, the loss of loved ones and realising that not all situations are black and white, but muddied with complex and conflicting feelings. Throughout, the author juxtaposes very genuine and natural human reactions with the realities of war i...
