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  • The Nightingale

  • Written by: Kristin Hannah
  • Narrated by: Polly Stone
  • Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (2,157 ratings)

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The Nightingale

Written by: Kristin Hannah
Narrated by: Polly Stone
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Publisher's Summary

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year, and soon to be a major motion picture, this unforgettable novel of love and strength in the face of war has enthralled a generation.

With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

Goodreads Best Historical Novel of the Year • People's Choice Favorite Fiction Winner • #1 Indie Next Selection • A Buzzfeed and The Week Best Book of the Year

Praise for The Nightingale:

"Haunting, action-packed, and compelling." —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Absolutely riveting!...Read this book." —Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director of the University of Miami Holocaust Teacher Institute

"Beautifully written and richly evocative." —Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A hauntingly rich WWII novel about courage, brutality, love, survival—and the essence of what makes us human.” —Family Circle

“A heart-pounding story.” —USA Today

"An enormous story. Richly satisfying. I loved it." —Anne Rice

"A respectful and absorbing page-turner." —Kirkus Reviews

"Tender, compelling...a satisfying slice of life in Nazi-occupied France." —Jewish Book Council

“Expect to devour The Nightingale in as few sittings as possible; the high-stakes plot and lovable characters won’t allow any rest until all of their fates are known.” —Shelf Awareness

"I loved The Nightingale." —Lisa See, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Powerful...an unforgettable portrait of love and war." —People

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

©2015 Kristin Hannah (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Editorial Review

When a family is torn apart by World War II, it is up to sisters Vianne and Isabelle to keep their loved ones safe during total destruction.

Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale is a touching story about family, love and keeping the human spirit alive in the worst possible situation. In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac bids adieu to her husband, Antoine, as he heads to fight on the frontlines of World War II. Vianne is ignorant in thinking the Nazis will not invade France, but they do—bombing and killing innocent civilians. When a Nazi commander occupies Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Vianne is placed in an unimaginable scenario and must make life-changing decisions to keep her family safe and alive.

Vianne’s younger sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old searching for a purpose in life, all while maintaining the uncontrollable passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and, swept up by their passion, the two fall in love. When Gäetan betrays her, Isabelle joins the French Resistance, risking her life to keep other innocent people safe.

Vianne’s younger sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old searching for a purpose in life, all while maintaining the uncontrollable passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and, swept up by their passion, the two fall in love. When Gäetan betrays her, Isabelle joins the French Resistance, risking her life to keep other innocent people safe.

In this stunning work of historical fiction, bestselling author Kristin Hannah presents a gripping portrait of World War II heroines, detailing the untold story of the women who fought at home while men fought on the front lines. At its heart, The Nightingale audiobook tells the stories of two sisters who, despite their differences, share a common goal: protecting their family and the French people from the Nazis. Narrated by Polly Stone with great emotion, The Nightingale is the perfect historical novel to be enjoyed as part of a book club or with your loved ones.

Featured Article: Historical Fiction Listens with Strong and Inspiring Female Protagonists


History teaches us what happened; historical fiction novels let us feel what happened. Without female protagonists in these historical fiction books, we’re only getting half the picture of what it might have been like to live through different time periods. Whether it’s a historical romance set hundreds of years ago or a twentieth-century drama based on actual events, discover listens that are both heartbreaking and humbling as female characters lead the way.

What listeners say about The Nightingale

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Nightingale opened my eyes

This book opened my eyes about some of the things happening during wars that we don’t even consider most of the time.
The narration was fantastic.
#Audible1

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enjoyed thoroughly

I enjoyed every aspect of this book. great story and wonderful narration. I highly recommend.

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6 people found this helpful

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  • Pam
  • 2018-10-26

Beautiful, I couldn't stop listening.

This is an incredible and heart wrenching story of strength, love and perseverance. A reminder of how truly blessed we are.

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Well written, but just too sad for me.

This was my 4th book by Kristin Hannah, and I think it will be my last. I have found all of her books to be well written, but she has a way of going too far with the sad elements in her stories. I found myself rolling my eyes near the end of this story, because the characters simply have too many hardships to bear. I have read several books that are set in this same time period of WWII, and they all tell very sad and horrible tales. This book in particular though, in my opinion goes too far. That said, the author is very talented, and if you can handle hardship after hardship, it’s a very good book.

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4 people found this helpful

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Excellent

This book was amazing and almost too much. Too thought provoking, too stressful and too emotional. Will not forget it

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3 people found this helpful

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A must read

Loved every chaptert. Couldn't stop listening to it. I highly recommend it and they was never a dull moment.

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Solid novel

This was an interesting novel. Character development and plot were very interesting. Enjoyable (well....sad....but well written)

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A good almost true story

Well written and well interpreted story which commendably celebrates the life of Andrée de Jongh.
American authors who have not lived in France, should have their manuscripts reread by real French people. The devil is in the small details and in this case they grated on my French self. Hannah is a much better writer than Dan Brown but her imagined life in France did not sound authentic to me, again in the small realities. In the same way Bezu Fache’s obligatory (non) sentences in French were not at all authentic. Why do all American authors think that « Sacrebleu » does a Frenchman make? It did spoil the overall impression for me.

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Another Great Story

I could hardly wait to listen to the story, it was that good.
I was taken back through the hardships the people of France endured during the Second World War, fell in love with the characters and have a new appreciation for the risks people took back then.

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YESSSS! Just YES!

This type of book was not something I usually gravitate towards but I was looking for something a bit different and boy and I happy I picked this one. It was long but I couldn't get enough. The plot and characters are really well thought out. Being a millennial I don't really know much about the war and this helped open my eyes to the types of things people had to endure - without it feeling like a history lesson. Loved this one!

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  • Sara
  • 2015-08-21

Heroic & Harrowing Work Of Fiction

I have mixed feelings about this intense work of fiction. This is probably because I have read several books of nonfiction recently about France during WWII and the Vichy Regime. Some of the information presented in this book contradicts the actual history of the time. Additionally, if you know Paris well you will balk at the street locations and distances between places mentioned in the story. I found myself torn about pushing on with the book because of these problems. In the end, I allowed the excellent storytelling to override my concerns and treated the book as a compelling work of fiction.

Polly Stone's narration was really good. Her timing and accents added to the experience of listening. For me, she was a positive, but do listen to the sample because others disagree.

Be forewarned that this story is not for the faint of heart. Women and children in peril, torture, extreme violence and the horrors of war are all strong themes. Hannah's writing captured the emotions and fears of women in war forced to make difficult and impossible decisions. A harrowing, heartbreaking, and terrifying listening experience. If actual historic facts matter to you or if you are disturbed by violence I would proceed with caution.

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  • PatrioticMimi
  • 2015-02-17

HEARTBREAKINGLY POIGNANT AND INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL

There have been many books written about WWII and I have read many of them. For that reason I almost passed up this gem. It's a powerful, thought-provoking look at this horrible time in history from the very intimate perspective of a woman, wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend. It's about impossible choices, strength of the human spirit, endurance beyond imagining and hope. A stark reminder that not only men, but also women, were heroes in that war.

It's a long book, but I never felt it to drag. The narration was very well done. And I found myself wanting to stop along the way to reflect on situations and decisions characters had made and ask myself, "What would you have done?" There are many moral dilemmas in this book, none of which are easy. How far would you go to protect your child?

It was well worth the credit. The best book I've listened to in the past twelve months.

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  • Mel
  • 2015-02-14

A bird that roared


After reading the publisher's summary in Audible's *Featured Pre-Orders,* I was drawn to The Nightingale -- I have an obsession with the history of early twentieth century France, particularly the Inter War period and the few years after WWII. Unfamiliar with Hannah's body of work, I read that her oeuvre was *female fiction,* repeatedly compared to other authors I have chosen not to read. That translated to concern that I would be disappointed with the author, and by a book that inaccurately used history to piggy back on a saccharine love story. Not what I was looking for.

It was this line from the Kirkus Review that perfectly addressed my worries and sold me on this book: "Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II." Hannah's skillful writing, and forceful story telling ability quickly became apparent and convinced me The Nightingale was a perfect choice.

As the story begins, the reader knows only that the novel is about two disparate sisters during the WWII Nazi occupation of France. From one of those sisters, now placed in a nursing home in Oregon, USA, the tale of survival is unraveled, but which surviving sister narrates the history remains unknown until the novel's end...and I hung onto the book until that ending and wished the story could've gone on.

Sisters Vianne and Isabelle are polar opposites, even in their individual strengths: Vianne is compassionate with the strengths we know as *a mother's-love,* wise and thoughtful; while the younger Isabelle is defiant, fearless, and recklessly brave -- opposites, but equally formidable. Each of their paths are harrowing and absorbing. On the home-front, Vianne must protect her daughter while fighting starvation, freezing winters, and the degradation from German soldiers. In silent horror, she watches as her friends and neighbors are branded with the Jewish star, then gathered into wagons and trains, often leaving infants behind alone. Even a rumor started from jealousy, or a false accusation can be deathly under the brutal Gestapo's presence. Young and compulsive, Isabelle defies the occupation openly until an event brings soldiers too close to their home. She realizes that for the protection of Vianne and her daughter, she must flee. She joins the Resistance and becomes a guide secretly transporting injured Allied airmen over the Pyrenees into Spain. [Isabelle's surname, Rossignol, is the French word for nightingale.]

Having read my share of French history, I was impressed with the historical accuracy of the story (though this was in part a love story that added little more than some quasi-romance). Many of the events were echoes of history books I've read and it was gratifying to see that Hannah did not treat the civilians as *landscape* and marginalize those poor souls caught in the crossfire of war. This was a riveting story, excellently told and narrated well (I will leave the accuracy of the French accent to those more knowledgeable than my HS French; it did not impede the story for me). It is worth mentioning that though this is fiction, Hannah said her idea for the story was ignited by a real incident she read about...and there are too many real incidents out there, both historical and current.
Recommend.

**It is estimated that 350,00 French civilians died during the German occupation, not from bombs or fighting, but from: crimes against humanity, famine, disease and "military acting out." This war preceded Article 27 of the Geneva Convention; females were considered *carnal booty.* Since 1949 Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits wartime rape and enforced prostitution. In a speech to the United nations Security Council in 2008, Retired Major General Patrick Cammart stated,
“It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict.” Sadly, we haven't made much progress.

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  • Wendi
  • 2015-02-04

Like Nails on A Chalkboard! AWFUL!

First off- I love Kristin Hannah. I have enjoyed her books thoroughly over the years. In fact, I have loved every single one I've read- with no exaggeration. The story of the Nightingale is probably no different- about two girls in Paris growing up during the war, and their struggles. Hannah has a knack for addictive characters and drawing empathy from her readers- which is why we all love her and her novels.

That being said, I am going to have to return this book and buy the novel instead.

This is the most annoying narrator I have ever listened to. I have probably listened to over 300 audible books or more- and I have listened to some pretty bad narrators- but this by far is the worst.

She pronounces the letter S like a snake. Ssssssssssssssssssssssstop doing thisssssssssssssss to me! I always fall asleep lissssstening but I actually had to download another book. It was horrible! She also sounds ridiculous when she does a French accent- I literally wanted to cry I was so disappointed.

I don't know who produced this, but Hannah will lose money on this audible book unless they change the author and fix it. It's absolutely dreadful and I am so disappointed. I had pre-ordered this book and was so looking forward to it!

As I said, the story is probably very good but the narrator ruins it and makes it absolutely unbearable- like nails on a chalkboard.

Urgh.

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  • IronDad
  • 2015-03-11

Wow

Full time doctoral studies and full time work leaves no time for reading. I bought this book on Audible and it would keep me company on my hour commute to and from work. The story line is great-I can identify with Isabel, with her speak before thinking attitude.

I found myself laughing, crying, dropping my jaw in shock and disgust and didn't want to stop listening. I wish the book didn't end.

I highly recommend this book on Audible. The different character voices and current pronunciation of French words was better than I could have attempted!
You won't regret it.

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  • B.J.
  • 2015-02-07

S-l-o-w start but great finish.

This is a tough book to review. It would be easy to include a spoiler and that's not fair to other readers. So, I'll stay clear of that and do the best I can.

This is the first Kristin Hannah book for me and I didn't really know what to expect. With all the advance press, I was hoping for something equal to, say, "The Goldfinch" for this year's list of greats. Yes, it's good - but it's not going to make that list for me.

Though there's never a shortage of WWII books in fiction, there have never been enough books about the huge contribution women made to the war. I'm always pleased when one comes along that I think will capture new readers. I don't think this book comes close to "Code Name Verity" in quality, but there's no question it will generate great word-of-mouth and be a book club favorite.

As to the book itself, I wish I could rate it in two halves. The first half for me was ho-hum. Let's be generous and call it good. It took me a very long time to get into it. The narrator didn't help much. She's adequate, but really doesn't enhance the experience in any way. For quite a while I wondered if I could endure but pushed on anyway. I'm glad I did. Things changed.

About at half time, the storyline thickened and it became a compelling listen. All the set up on the characters paid off. Closer to the end when the author brings the whole thing around, she really ties it up beautifully. I'd even call it great.

Is it "Winds of War" caliber? Nope. But that book will never get a new flock of readers and social media buzz where this one just might. If it helps a new generation know what women did during the war, it will have done its job.

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  • Summer Layne
  • 2019-05-09

Irritating Narration and Trite Writing

The narrator speaks too slowly, and uses a die-away inflection more suited to bedtime stories. Worse still: her strangled attempts at accents. I simply do not understand why English-speaking narrators use accents for non-native English speakers who are NOT speaking English! Why must we listen to hours of French and German accents better suited to the vaudeville stage?

Assuming that the French characters are speaking French - not English - to one another, then it appears obvious to me that accented dialog is ridiculous. The only time it would be appropriate would be if, say, a French character were speaking English in the story. But listening to hour after hour of French women speaking French to each other with French-accented English is absurd. Especially so, if the narrator's accent is cartoonish. Think Pepe le Pew after inhaling helium.

The writing is too self-consciously precious ... far too many words, repeated far too often, in overworked sentences. And the myriad analogies were ridiculously incongruous. Going against the tide here - I know - but, for me, this novel is highly overrated. Perhaps a brisker narration in unaccented English would have masked the insipid writing. But we aren't that lucky.

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  • Destry
  • 2015-02-14

Great book

This is a great novel. It does everything a novel is supposed to and leaves you drained at the end. In all three criteria Audible asks for, it is easily five star. Do yourself a favor and don't miss this one. Just a note about Polly Stone the narrator. She is very, very good and maintains a level that matches the quality of the novel. Her work helped make this such a wonderful experience.

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  • K. parkinson
  • 2015-05-18

Beautifully heartbreaking!

This book was not what I was expecting. For some reason I thought this was going to be a romance novel, boy was I wrong! Even though I was wrong about what this book was about, it was an amazing and beautiful novel! I'm grateful I got the experience of this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction.

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  • Anthony Vacca
  • 2015-02-08

Moving, inspiring, excellent writing!

This was an extremely well-written story. The characters seem real and evoked emotional highs and lows for the reader. I highly recommend this book for any reader and plan to have my teenage daughter sit down and read this book with me.

This is now my favorite book and I have many many to compare! Excellent writing and beautiful reading!

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  • E. Fourie
  • 2020-12-08

Eye opening

At first I thought this book was too sickly sweet and wasn’t sure I’d like it. After giving it a second chance, i became drawn into the story and never looked back. The story told simultaneously by both sisters is raw and personal and your empathize with both of their thoughts and actions - making you wonder what you would do in the same situation. It is an homage to the women’s strength in these inhumanely cruel and unimaginably impossible times. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and it’s honest telling of feelings and events that may well have taken place.

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