The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah (2015)
“Two sisters in Nazi-occupied France make impossible choices — and one of them will disappear from history entirely.”
At a Glance
Vianne and Isabelle Rossignol are sisters living in occupied France during World War II. Vianne, the older sister, struggles to protect her daughter while sheltering Jewish children from Nazi deportation. Isabelle, reckless and idealistic, becomes a courier for the French Resistance under the code name 'the Nightingale,' guiding downed Allied airmen over the Pyrenees. Both sisters are captured. Isabelle dies of illness in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Vianne survives, and the novel reveals in its frame narrative that she — now elderly, living in America — is the unnamed 'old woman' narrating the entire story.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
The Nightingale became the best-selling novel of 2015 in the United States and remained on bestseller lists for over a year. It revived mainstream interest in women's roles in the French Resistance and introduced the Comet Line to millions of readers who had never encountered it in history class. Historians of women's wartime contributions credit it with raising popular awareness of a significantly underresearched area.
Diction Profile
Conversational with lyrical moments — clear, direct prose with periodic emotional amplification
Moderate