SHORT REVIEW: A beautifully written piece of historical fiction with admirable but flawed protagonists that takes a closer look at a woman's role in an occupied wartime territory. This novel is memorable and poignant, and eviscerates any and all pieces I've read or will read in the same setting. 
 LONG REVIEW: Sisters Vianne Mauriac (nee Rossignol) and Isabelle Rossignol (French for "nightingale") take two different positions during Germany-occupied France. Isabelle, young and impetuous and beautiful, takes on the role of the daring underground rebel, first passing out pamphlets in the wee hours of the morning and then making the physically and mentally harrowing decision to become a figurehead in the rebellion, putting a target on her back. Vianne chooses to turn her head to the violence and discrimination occurring in her sleepy village of Carriveau following Nazi occupation, what with a Nazi soldier billeting at her home, a young daughter to care for, and her husband's whereabouts on the front lines unknown, only to discover that events take the choice for her to stay safe and hidden out of her hands. 
 Jumping between each sister's perspective, Hannah deftly portrays the life-changing actions both sisters take to stand up against the Nazi regime, both big and small, while adapting to life in an occupied territory and concern for loved ones. Though each sister has a love interest, on whom at least part of her attention is focused, the novel does not read like a piece of historical fictional romance, thankfully, but utilizes these romances to paint a picture of each woman's motivations and desires. Though they initially start out somewhat distanced from one another in both location and understanding, the sisters find common ground as the war forces them into different roles and actions. Each woman suffers, Isabelle mostly physically as she strives to forget the man who abandoned her, and Vianne emotionally as she finds herself unintentionally betraying her morals and loved one. Hannah depicts brutal events and instances, such as the paucity of food due to Nazi and allied-French over-consumption and the brutal winters as brilliantly as she does cutting words and conversations, such as when Vianne has a falling out with Isabelle. Without giving anything away, ultimately this is a novel about family and repairing relationships with loved ones. 
 I was so impressed by this novel, partially because I had previously read Jojo Moyes's "THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND," which also (partially) took place in Nazi-occupied France, in a small French village, in the point of view of a French woman with a husband off to war, and "THE NIGHTINGALE" was superior in every way, shape, and form. (And I actually really liked Moyes's depiction, too!) Hannah's novel does not necessarily have any fundamentally new themes or plots, but she depicts each scenario and event carefully, keeping the protagonists at the forefront. All in all, this is a novel that will stay with you, and one that I, personally, will want to read over and over again.