Finally Got Around to Reading The Nightingale!

 

Eleven years. 

It's been eleven years since this book published and for eleven years I wanted to read it. But for whatever reason it didn't happen until now. 

I finished it a few days ago. By finished, I mean I sobbed my way through the final chapters and continued to sob as I thought about Vianne, Isabelle and their lives, the outcome and the end of the story. 

Sobbed. 

It took me a full two days to stop sniffling every time I thought about the book. The weight of what people went through during World War II hit me hard. It's part of history that I gravitate toward when reading or diving in to learn more. My parents were 15 and 14 when it all started. 

Dad served in the Navy after enlisting in 1942 once he'd turned 18 years old. It's hard sometimes to imagine my parents so young, let alone dealing with another world war. 

The characters in the story are fictional but some of their actions are based on real historical figures like Andrée de Jongh, who escorted 118 people from Nazi-occupied Belgium to neutral Spain. 

Reading about her inspired Hannah to do research where she found more stories about The French Resistance and how women risked their lives, and the lives of their own children to help hide Jewish families from the Nazis. 

The story at times is driven by deeply nostalgic emotion which feels like the seriousness of the topic becomes eroded BUT, it's a great story. The pacing, I'm all about pacing, was a little slower at times than I liked, but I stuck with it. 

The characters are well written and developed, even the minor characters are very memorable. Would I read it again? Yes. 

For me, this was a solid 4/5 

Happy reading, 
B