France, 1939. In a cozy village, Carriavo, Вианна Мориак says goodbye to her husband, who is going off to fight the Germans. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France… But soon, right past her house, tank columns thunder by, the sky is barely visible through planes dropping bombs. War has come to the quiet French backwoods. Вианна faces a choice: either take in a German officer as a lodger, or lose everything—perhaps even her life.
Изабель Мориак is a rebellious and willful eighteen-year-old girl, determined to fight the invaders. Reckless and ready to risk everything, she’s forced by her father to go to the village to live with her older sister. This is how her path to the Resistance begins. Изабель doesn’t look back and doesn’t regret her actions. Time and again, risking her life, she saves people.
“By the Nightingale” (The Nightingale) is an epic story of war, sacrifice, suffering, and great love. A heartbreakingly beautiful novel that has become a true hymn to women’s courage and strength of spirit. A novel for everyone— a novel for life.
Christine Hannah’s book became the defining worldwide bestseller of 2015; readers and a whole host of printed editions named it unequivocally the best novel of the year. Since 2016, “The Nightingale” has embarked on a triumphant march around the world; the book has already been published—or is about to be released—in 35 countries.