‘Masterpiece’ World War 2 novel that’s ‘best book ever written’ | Books | Entertainment

There aren’t many better ways to spend a weekend than curling up with a good book and a warm drink in hand. And if a novel is written particularly well, it can stay with you for a very long time even after you finish it.

There is one book out there that does just that, partly because it’s set during one of the darkest times in history. It has been described as “powerful, emotional, and impossible to put down”. Readers say they were completely immersed in the characters’ lives, and many finished it in just a couple of days.

What’s more, the novel has been translated into 45 languages and sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide.

It follows two sisters trying to survive under Nazi rule in occupied France during World War 2, and the very different choices they make.

The book in question is The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. One person said: “The Nightingale is one of the most powerful and moving books I’ve ever read.

“From beginning to end, I was completely immersed in the lives of the two sisters, Vianne and Isabelle.”

Another added: “I am not a big reader, and I fell in love with this book. It’s not often a book grabs my attention and pulls me out of the room I’m in, and into the story I’m reading.”

A third commented: “I could not put this book down. I finished it within two days. It just might be the best book ever written.”

The story begins in 1939 and follows Vianne Mauriac, a teacher raising her daughter in a small French town. 

When her husband is sent to war, she’s left to face the brutal reality of occupation.

As Nazi soldiers take over her home and her town, Vianne must make impossible choices to protect her family and friends, including risking her life to save Jewish children.

At the same time, her younger sister Isabelle joins the French Resistance. She works to smuggle downed Allied pilots across the border into Spain, earning the secret code name “The Nightingale”.

The book was inspired by real-life war hero Andrée de Jongh, a Belgian woman who helped more than 100 airmen escape Nazi territory on foot through the Pyrenees.

Author Kristin Hannah said she was moved by true stories of women who risked everything to help others during the war.

As one reader summed it up: “I highly recommend The Nightingale. It is one of the most powerful and emotional books I’ve ever read.”