The book falls
in the genre of historical fiction that narrates the tale of two sisters
(Vianne and Isabelle) during WWII when France had been occupied by Hitler-led
Nazi.
Like Edith’s Story, this book is too about women
survival in the wartime. Both sisters come across many types of hardships and
heartbreaks, despite that both go ahead with chin up courageously. Their
intentions are to help others in such dreadful time when people have become
selfish to save themselves or their means of sustenance. All they want is to
contribute for the good for common folks.
Vianne engages
herself to help and save Jewish children, while Isabelle works out to help many
Allied pilots to escape out of France by escorting them. Her character is inspired
by a Belgian woman, Andree de Jongh. Isabelle traverses through perilous time
for this task. During the same time, she finds love (falls in love with a
pilot). Though both sisters differ in personality but they are very much
similar when it comes to virtues like audacity, resilience, courage, and
determination to help others.
This is a
terrific story of war time, well-written and with powerful twists and turns.
The author writes in the beginning: ‘In love we find out who we want to be; in
war we find out who we are. And sometimes, perhaps, we don’t want to know what
we would do to survive.’ Beautiful, Isn’t it?
As the book
nears to its end, she expresses, ‘Men tell stories, women get on with it. There
were no parades for us when the war was over, no medals or mentions in history
books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up
the pieces and started our lives over.’ This is amazing but at the same time
heartbreaking that after the war is over people fail to recognize the efforts
contributed by the women during wartime. The story is written from a woman’s
point of view but every war has women heroes as well. The need to honour them
is equally important.
After reading
this book, readers may wonder there must be so many untold stories of forgotten
remarkable women heroes during WW I & II.
Overall, the
book brings a stark insight into the lives of the unsung heroines of WWII.
Their contribution was silent but significant too. The writer has beautifully
portrayed with adequate dose of emotions struggles of women during the war.
Those who love
war fiction, The Nightingale is one of the favorite books of all time. It is a
powerful depiction of the futility of war and of the many hues of bravery. All
characters are so powerfully sketched. The ending is loveable when she decides
to keep that one secret to herself. What a fabulous read!
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