Book Review

For my birthday last year my parents gave me a kindle. In the past I have been very anti electronic book but now I am in so much love. I can rock Gemma to sleep and read I can stay up late in bed and read without bugging Joe and I have millions of books at my fingertips.

My mom called and told me to read the Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. My sister also told me stop everything and read this book. I have always enjoyed World War II literature but I have never read anything like this book before. I was breathing eating living this book. I read in the tub in bed while making dinner...I could not put this book down.


The book switches between two sisters each chapter. They have not always been close but, as sisters will do, fiercely love and protect each other. Vianne lives in the countryside with her daughter and husband living an idealistic French country life. That is until her husband is sent to the front to fight. Vianne must figure out how to care for her daughter and protect their little estate from war and the Nazis.

Isabelle has been bounced around from boarding school to boarding school. She is lively, and seeks adventure....even more than that she wants to help the cause. She lives in Paris with their estranged father. She is recruited by the French resistance and soon enough every Nazi in Paris is hunting for her.

“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.”

This quote sums of the essence of the story. There are many books about the men who fought and the lives they saved but there are very few about the women left at home to deal with the war. This story is about sisterhood, trials, and getting up every morning and making things work.

Read this book. Read it with Kleenex and candy. At one point I was in the bathtub crying so hard Joe thought someone must have died. The writing is so beautiful, the story is so raw.

“You’re not alone, and you’re not the one in charge,” Mother said gently. “Ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. I think that is how we serve God—and each other and ourselves—in times as dark as these.”   

I love a lot of quotes from this book but this is one I wrote down. We live in troubled times. It is important to remember to serve where we can love always and be kind.