Amy 
historical fiction
The Nightingale was a great story that illustrated the lives of those living in France during WWII—those who were not soldiers but were left to face life during wartime in a land being occupied by German soldiers. It centered around two sisters with very different personalities. I enjoyed both viewpoints and the time period leapfrogging between past and present. All the characters were very well-developed. The story was sad, inspiring, shocking, educational, heartwarming, infuriating, and complete. It covered the entire lives of the main characters, although the meat of the story took place during the war years.
I’ve heard many people express that this is the best book they’ve ever read. It was definitely a great book and, by far, a better book than the other novel I've read by Kristin Hannah, Firefly Lane. But, I think that there are several better WWII-set novels. Those who liked this book might want to try The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Other WWII novels I recommend are Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (also set in France and also moves back and forth between past and present), City of Thieves by David Benioff, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
I also wanted to mention that I listened to this in audiobook format. The narrator gets a C. While she had good accents and voices, when she was being the narrator, she was emotionless and robotic. I really had to make an effort to get past the annoyance of her narration to get to the story behind it so that her voice didn't ruin the enjoyment of the story for me.
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