THE NIGHTINGALE

by Kristin Hannah

About the Author

A Conversation with Kristin Hannah

Behind the Novel

A Selection of Photographs

Keep on Reading
Recommended Reading
Ideas for Book Groups
Reading Group Questions
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A Conversation with
Kristin Hannah
Do you have any personal experience with the Second
World Warrelatives living in France, or anywhere
in Europe, during that the time? Family or friends
who went to fight abroad? What inspired you to write
about this chapter in history?
I do not have any personal experience with World
War II. Maybe thats why I love the stories of women
who joined the Resistance during the war. They are
powerful, compelling stories of ordinary women who
became heroes, some at great personal cost.

Sometimes
a story sneaks
up on you,
hits you hard,
and dares you
to look away.

I first came across the idea for The Nightingale years

ago, when I was researching World War II Russia.
When I read about an otherwise ordinary young Belgian woman who created an escape line for downed
airman, I was mesmerized by her courage and resilience. Her story was the inspiration for Isabelle, but
there were dozens of women who had equally compelling stories of courage and heroism and tragedy.
I knew I had to write a novel about the many women
who became spies and couriers and risked their lives
to save others during the war. And then there were
the women who hid Jewish children in their homes.
These courageous women put themselves directly in
harms way. Many of them paid a terrible price for
their heroism. As a mother, I found these stories impossible to ignore. And like so much of womens history, the stories are largely ignored or overshadowed
or forgotten.
Can you take readers into the process of writing this
novel? What challenges did you face in terms of
plotting and structure, for example?
Absolutely, the biggest challenge in writing this novel
was weaving together the fictional and non-fictional
worlds. Because the novel covers the entire war, it
meant that every single scene had to be built upon
what was actually happening, and to be honest, ad-

hering to the factual timeline was a constant battle.

I literally couldnt write a sentence or a paragraph
or a scene without consulting research material. On
top of that, I wrote the first draft before going to
France, so I couldnt really own the landscape in my
head; I couldnt envision it. I couldnt describe a tree
or a road without researching it first. And then there
was the burden of accurately capturing the sacrifice
and heroism shown by the women of the Resistance.
I thought about that all the time. These men and
women had sacrificed so much for love and honor
and duty; theyd risked their lives and their childrens
lives to save others. I wanted to honor them and get
their stories right.
Do you have a favorite scene from The Nightingale
a setting or incident thats especially meaningful to you?
Honestly, there are so many parts and passages of
this book that I love, but if I had to pick just one,
I would say the scene where Isabelle and Gatan see
each other again after the end of the war. I tend to be
known for writing emotional books that make people
cry, but I dont often have that reaction to my work.
Im too focused on the individual sentences to feel
the power of the whole, but that scene made me cry
every time I read itand I read it a lot.
Is there any material that you wrote that never made it
to the final draft? Can you tell us about it?
Ha! I wrote hundreds of pages that no one will ever
read. Both Isabelle and Vianne gave me trouble in
this book. Neither was easy to find and both went
through several transformations through the writing
of the novel. In one version, they were best friends
and only a year apart in age, in another version, Isabelle fell in love with a downed airman. I always had
the baseline of the story, and since it was set against
the panorama of the war in France, I knew the basic

About the
Author

plot and structure from the beginning, but finding

the characters took more time. I had to spend so
much time on the history and the timeline and the
truth of the war, it ended up being a constant challenge to create real characters, who felt absolutely
true, without lapsing into stereotypical heroes and
villains. That was something I didnt want to do.
I knew what I had to say in this book. I wanted to
explore and celebrate the bravery and courage of ordinary women in extraordinary times. It just took me
a lot of time, and several drafts, to find out exactly
who my ordinary women were. And then, I think,
both of them turned out to be stronger and braver
and more extraordinary than Id imagined.
How did you approach the research into this setting
and era? To what extent did you stick to the facts in
writing The Nightingale? In what ways, if any, did
you take artistic liberty?
I was terrified, plain and simple. I had never attempted a novel of such scope and importance. Everything
about it was a risk: France. World War II. A sweeping
historical epic told in an intimate way. A novel of war
about women.
But sometimes a story sneaks up on you, hits you
hard, and dares you to look away. That was the case
with The Nightingale. In truth, I did everything
I could not to write this novel. But when research
on World War II led me to the young Belgian
woman who had created an escape route out of
Nazi-occupied France, I was hooked.
I began as I always do: with research. Its really the
researchin any novelthat informs the story. First
I find out what has happened, and then I begin to
extrapolate what could happen, and then I create a
world that makes sense to me, an imaginary world

firmly planted in truth. In this story, of course, the

research was a daunting task. There was simply so
much to know and understand. I started with the
historical background of the war in Europe and then
began to narrow my focus. My best information
always comes from memoirsin this case, memoirs
of women in the Resistance, and downed airman
who had escaped, and women who hid and rescued
Jewish children.
As far as complete accuracy and artistic license, of
course I took a few libertiesits fiction, after all
but I did it all with an eye toward telling a story that
felt as true as possible.
In your research of WWII, what was the most
interesting/surprising/shocking thing you learned?
I was continually amazed and awed at the risks ordinary French women took to keep their children safe
and help strangers and preserve their way of life. And
for women, it is rarely just our own life we are risking;
it is our childrens lives. In the midst of such great
horror, it must have been beyond terrifying to reach
out to help someone.
What do you hope readers will learn from your
own novel?
As I researched this book, I found myself consumed
by a single, haunting question, as relevant today as it
was seventy years ago: When would I, as a wife and
mother, risk my lifeand more important, my childs
lifeto save a stranger? That question is the very
heart of The Nightingale.
I hope readers will ask themselves that same question:
What would I do?

About the
Author

A Selection of Photographs

This is how I imagined Carriveau to look

the town close to where Vianne and her family lived.

I chose a lovely inn in the ancient town of

Brantme to become one of Isabelles safe houses.

The River Dronne in Brantme

You could see the Eiffel Tower from

Isabelle and Viannes fathers window.

Behind the
Novel

This is the view from the safe house.

The beach at Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Recommended Reading
As you can imagine, it took a lot of research to pull
this novel together. For months, I read a steady stream
of nonfiction, memoirs, and historical treatises. Here
are a few of my favorites. These books will give you
more information about the brave men and women of
the Resistance, the rescuing of downed airmen, and
hidden children in World War II France.
Caine, Philip D. Aircraft Down! Evading Capture in
WWII Europe. Virginia: Potomac Books, 1997.
Champlain, Hlne de. The Secret War of Helene De
Champlain. Great Britain: Redwood Burn, Ltd.,
1980.
Chevrillon, Claire. Code Name Christiane Clouet:
A Woman in the French Resistance. Texas: Texas
A&M University Press, 1995.
Coleman, Fred. The Marcel Network: How One
French Couple Saved 527 from the Holocaust.
Virginia: Potomac Books, 2013.
Eisner, Peter. The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and
Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen from the Nazis
During World War II. New York: HarperCollins,
2004.
Fitzsimons, Peter. Nancy Wake: A Biography of Our
Greatest War Heroine. New York: HarperCollins,
2001.
Foot, M.R.D., and J.M. Langley. MI9: Escape and
Evasion, 19391945. Boston: Little Brown,
1979.
Humbert, Agns. Rsistance: A Womans Journal
of Struggle and Defiance in Occupied France.
New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2004.
Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 19401944.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Keep on
Reading

Litoff, Judy Barrett. An American Heroine in the

French Resistance. The Diary and Memoir of
Virginia dAlbert-Lake. New York: Fordham
University Press, 2006.
Long, Helen. Safe Houses Are Dangerous.
London: William Kimber, 1985.
Moorehead, Caroline. A Train in Winter: An
Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship,
and Resistance in Occupied France.
New York: HarperCollins, 2011.
Neave, Airey. Little Cyclone. London: Coronet
Books, 1954.

Ideas for Book Groups

Dear Readers,
I truly believe in book groups. Whats better than
busy women and men taking an eveningor an
afternoonto gather together and talk about life
and love and family...and books? Whats not to
love about this?
In recent years, Ive been able to talk to book groups
via speakerphone during their meetings. What a
blast! For so long, I wrote books and never really met
anyone who had read them. It is such a joy to talk to
readers from all over the country. We talk about anything and everythingmy books, other books, best
friends, kids, sisters. You name it, well discuss it. So
if you belong to a book group and youve chosen The
Nightingale as your pick, please come on over to the
Web site and set up a conversation with me. I cant
promise to fulfill all the requests, but I will certainly
do my best. And dont forget to join me on my blog
and/or Facebook. I love talking to readers. The more
the merrier!
Thanks!

Keep on
Reading

Reading Group Questions

1. The Nightingale opens with an intriguing
statement that lays out one of the major themes
of the book: If I have learned anything in this
long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out
who we want to be; in war we find out who we
are. What do you think the narrator means by
this? Is love the ideal and war the reality? How
does war change the way these characters love?
How does love influence their actions in the war?
On a personal level, has love affected your life
choices? Have those choices affected who and
how you love?
2. Take a moment to talk about the narrative
structure of The Nightingale. Why do you think
Kristin Hannah chose to keep the narrators
identity a secret in the beginning and end of the
novel? Were you surprised by who it turned out
to be? Did you go back and reread the beginning
of the novel once you finished? Were you satisfied when you discovered who was narrating
the novel?
3. Many characters chose to construct a secret identity in The Nightingale. How did pretending to be
someone else determine each characters fate, for
better or worse? And what about those who had
no choice, like Ari and Julien?
4. The sisters Isabelle and Vianne respond to the
war in very different ways. Isabelle reacts with
anger and defiance, risking her life to join the
resistance against Nazi occupation. Vianne proceeds with caution and fear, avoiding conflicts for
the sake of her children. Who do you admireor
relate to, or sympathize withmore, Vianne or
Isabelle? Discuss your reasons. You may choose
to share your own stories and experiences as well.

5. The book captures many of the eras attitudes

about men and women. Isabelle, for example,
is told that women do not go to war. Vianne is
confused by her new wartime role as provider.
Their father, Julien, is cold and distant, unwilling
to fulfill his parental duties after his wife dies.
Have gender roles changed much since World
War II? Have women always been strong in the
face of adversity, but not recognized for their
efforts? Vianne says that men tell stories...
women get on with it. Do you agree with her?
6. Isabelles niece, Sophie, admires her aunts courage: Tante Isabelle says its better to be bold than
meek. She says if you jump off a cliff at least youll
fly before you fall. Do you agree? Is it better to
take a risk and fail than never try at all? Do you
think you could have acted as heroically as Isabelle under such horrifying circumstances? Who
is more heroic in your mindIsabelle or Vianne?
7. Perhaps one of the most chilling moments in the
book is when Vianne provides Captain Beck with
a list: Jews. Communists. Homosexuals. Freemasons. Jehovahs Witnesses. We know now how
wrong it was to provide this list, but can you understand why Vianne did it? What do you think
you would have done?
8. Each of the sisters experiences love in a different
way. Viannes love is that of a mature woman, a
wife and a mother devoted to her family; Isabelles
love is youthful and impulsive, more of a girlish
dream than a reality. How did Isabelles feelings
of abandonment shape her personality and her
life? How did Viannes maternal love lead to acts
of heroism, saving the lives of Jewish children?
How did loveand warbring these two sisters
closer together?

Keep on
Reading

9. Take a moment to talk about Beck. Is he a sympathetic character? Did you believe he was a good
man, or was he just trying to seduce Vianne. Did
he deserve his fate?
10. When Isabelle works with Anouk and other wo
men of the French resistance, she notices the
wordless bond of women. What does she mean?
Do you agree that women who come from different backgrounds but share a common path can
create a silent bond with other women? Why do
you think this is so?
11. Vianne recalls her husband, Antoine, telling her
that we choose to see miracles. What does
he mean by this? Is it his way of telling his wife
he knows the truth about their sons biological
father? Or is it his way of looking at life, of coping
with the terrible events theyve lived through? Is
seeing the beauty in the world an active choice?
Is it possible to find miracles in our lives, if we
look for them?
12. Discuss the scene in which Ari is taken away.
What do you believe is the right answer in this
situationif there is one? What would you
have done in Viannes position?
13. Do you think Julien had a right to know who his
real father was? Would you have made the same
decision Vianne did?
14. Finally, a show of hands: Who criedor at least
got a little choked upwhile reading this book?
Which scenes moved you the most? Which characters fate would you say was the most tragic? The
most poignant? The most harrowing? Did the book
give you a better understanding of life under Nazi
occupation during World War II? Did it move you,
inspire you, haunt you? And finally, what will you
remember most about The Nightingale?