Just Finished Reading Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale

From time to time I read the New York Times fiction books bestseller list in my Sunday newspaper, looking for good reading prospects.  I filter out those books that look like parts of series and focus on self-contained stories...as well as books that remain on the list for several weeks.  Until just recently, Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale has been on the bestsellers list for many weeks, and I decided it was time to give it a look.  Besides, by doing it this way before, I got another "bird" book, Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, and that one turned out to be a winner as well...

The Nightingale, the title referring to a nickname given to one of the characters, is a historical fiction drama set in France during its Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1945.  The protagonists, from whose perspectives the author presents the story's narrative, alternating one with the other, are sisters Isabelle and Vianne.  Isabelle is bold and lives her life on the edge, by her emotions...while Vianne is cautious and deliberative.  They are conflicted with each other by their actions, as well as by mutual grievances from the past.  But war has come to France, despite all guarantees to the contrary, and the two sisters must deal with the German occupation, each in her own way...

That's about as far as I can go about the story itself without giving away too much, but I can say that Kristin Hannah did a remarkable job with the intensity and depth of her characters, as well as demonstrating that, in times of conflict like war, moral decisions are often not only difficult to make...in some circumstances, they are nearly impossible.  This book was so good that it did something books rarely do...it made me cry.  And that's about all I need to recommend The Nightingale for anyone interested in a good story with memorable characters...and you'll also learn quite a bit about history in the process...