The Nightingale

Finished another book, but as you can tell it took me some time. I loved this book and the story, but it is a tough story at times to read.

  

 It begins with an elderly woman (we do not know who) whose son is moving her from her home to assisted living. She has accepted this as her cancer has returned once again. All she wants to bring with her is a trunk...full of memories. This is were the story beings.

  Vianne and Isabelle are sisters. Their mother died when they Vianne was young and Isabelle just a toddler. Their father, who was "damaged" from a previous war, no longer wants to care for the girls so he ships them off. Vianne can't care for Isabelle as she believes an older sister should, but she, too, is in the midst of her grieving and can't stand the crying, screaming and demanding Isabelle. Eventually, both girls go their separate ways, but the war has suddenly forced them together one again. Vianne now with a family and Isabelle still the rebel. Vianne husband goes to war along with her best friend's, Rachel, husband. She and Rachel support each other as only friends and single mothers in such a horrific situation can, but Rahel is Jewish.  Isabelle joins the Resistance, never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others and in doing so, places others lives in jeopardy. There are parts that are just heart wrenching and at times, I had to take a break from reading.

From Amazon:

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war.   The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.