The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, 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. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and refuses to sit and do nothing...

I am lost for words. This book was incredible and soul crushing, it broke my heart one-thousand times. This book tells the forgotten story of The Women's War. During WWII the women fought and did unimaginable things to protect their families, and were unbelievably courageous. I loved (and also hated) reading about the characters strength and bravery, and how they risked their lives to save strangers. The characters were brilliant, and written with such beautiful artistry, I was so invested in their stories. The book shows the importance of love and hope, which conquers all. I devoured this book, and could not put it down! It was devastatingly real and thought-provoking, and it reinforced how lucky we are to have had such brave people come before us. This book made me cry, and it made me smile. I will never, ever forget it. 

“How fragile life was, how fragile they were. 
Love.
It was the beginning and end of everything, the foundation and the ceiling and the air in between. It didn’t matter that she was broken and ugly and sick. He loved her and she loved him, All her life she had waited -longed for - people to love her, but now she saw what she really mattered. She had known love, been blessed by it.”