"The Nightingale" by Kristen Hannah

In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

This historical fiction novel begins in the quiet village of Carriveau, France in 1939.  Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France, but invade they do. They came in droves of marching soldiers, caravans of trucks and tanks, planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for a purpose for her life. She meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France. Isabelle decides to join the Resistance, risking her life time and again to save others.

The author captures the epic horrors of WWII and brings to light the many ways women participated in the war effort. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France.