Books
by Kristin Hannah
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The Nightingale |
The setting is WWII in Nazi-occupied France and tells the stories of Vianne and Isabelle, two sisters with very different personalities and how they each respond in such dreadful times. Both are brave in different ways - rebellious Isabelle impetuously joins the resistance early on and Vianne is finally driven to risk her own life and her daughter's to save others. The descriptions of the brutality of the occupation and the concentration camps are heartrending but ultimately love and friendship shine through.
I understand that Isabelle's character is based on the late Andrée de Jongh (1916-2007) who repeatedly risked her life helping British and American servicemen escape on foot from Nazi-occupied Belgium and France.
(Christine Miller - bwl 77 Summer 2015) |
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The Nightingale |
WW II - Paris has fallen, France has surrendered, the whole country is now occupied. Two sisters, one headstrong Isabelle and the other down-to-earth Viane are both drawn into the Resistance movement. The one guiding downed British airman over the Pyrenees, the other hiding Jewish children from deportation into the Nazi death camps. Based in part on the true-life story of The Comet Line, a route organised by a young Belgian woman - Andrée de Jongh, this is a truly unputdownable read.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 116 Spring 2025) |
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The Women |
More strong women in extraordinary circumstances from Hannah. This book follows combat nurses in Vietnam and their attempts to resume normal life on return to the US. Their efforts were disregarded or seen as shameful as the horror and failure of the war became clear. The combat nursing is brutal but the book succeeds in describing little known circumstances in recent history, at a time when PTSD was not yet medically recognised and civil and women’s rights were nascent.
(Ros Cook - bwl 119 Winter 2026) |
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