Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Nightingale

Incredible read, I struggled to work through the beginning of the book as I don’t understand French but slowly I made up words and continued on. This book made me feel so many feelings deep in my heart. So much pain for the loss that was World War 2. The characters, the growth, I cried multiple times reading this. I will be recommending to everyone!!

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kastoomey's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad

5.0

This is such an incredibly important book to read. We never hear about the women who risked their lives trying to save others during a war. This book lets those women shine in such a hauntingly beautiful way.

It’s so easy to get lost in fictional books and in the characters, but this is a book where you have to remind yourself that while the characters themselves may be fictional, many of them were based off of real life women in a real war that resulted in the genocide of millions of innocent people.

“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.”

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jdjd2025's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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astoriareader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SYNOPSIS:

Two sisters, Isabelle & Vianne, are living in Nazi-occupied France in WWII, and we follow their two different stories & experiences during this time.
There is also some chapters with an unknown narrator in 1995, who appears to be looking back on the time in France.

MY THOUGHTS

This one lived up to the hype.
Kristin Hannah has quickly become one of my favorite authors. This is my 3rd read by her. Previously, I read The Great Alone and The Women, so this is my 3rd read by her.
Hannah’s writing is vivid and captivating. Even though this is a fairly lengthy book (around 570 pages), I found myself not being able to put it down, and I got through it pretty quickly. By the end of the book, I felt like I had been on the journey with the characters.
Since this involves WWII, the topics are heavy. This isn’t an easy read. It is a harrowing, heartbreaking, and emotional story. Although there are a lot of sensitive topics involved, Hannah did a great job at not going overboard with grotesque descriptions. In fact, the lack of descriptions made it even more horrifying, as your mind can easily close the loop on what is happening.
I loved the complex characters and the family dynamics. Throughout the book, we learn that the sisters are essentially estranged at the beginning of the war. They are very different people, and they have different stories. I enjoyed seeing the two sisters grow, and they learned a lot about themselves & each other. I could feel all the women were sacrificing & putting on the line.
I can only imagine all the research that Hannah had to undertake while writing this, so hats off to her.
Hannah masterfully shows readers a wide range of challenging situations that folks faces during this period of time. Since this involves WWII, I figured there would not be a happy ending. Although it is not a happy ending, it is a satisfying one.
I loved having two strong, capable women as main characters.
This book will stay with me for a long time. It is emotional & powerful, and the characters face unthinkable situations. Although it is historical fiction, it is moving reminder of what real people went through in WWII, and it is a tough pill to swallow.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️historical fiction about 2 sisters in Nazi-occupied France in WWII. Heartbreaking, harrowing, emotional, and powerful.

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