In love we find out who we want to be, in war we find out who we are.

Heartbreaking.
Excruciating.
Distressing.
Sad.
Disturbing.
Painful.
Harrowing.
Haunting.
Tragic.
Upsetting.

These are the words, I will use to describe this book. It was the hardest book to read and probably why it took me so long to finish it. I could only read a few pages at a time, 'cos I knew reading more would drown me in tumultuous, inescapable waves of emotions and my heart would break irrevocably.

Nightingale is the story about the unsung heroes of world War II. People who sacrificed and fought with everything they had even when the world around them seemed bleak and hopeless. It's about the people who kept loving when all they could see around them was hate. It's about the power that comes from being afraid for your family, your children, your friends and your community. It's a story about courage.

Wounds heal. Love lasts. We remain.

This book follows a powerful story of two estranged sisters finding their way back to each other in the midst of a war; all the while saving children and soldiers from the brutality of the monsters that lurk outside.

Vianne is the older sister. When her husband gets taken away by the nazis, she is forced into a hellacious situation where she has to manage everything on her own while ensuring that there is food on the table for her and her daughter - Sophie. Vianne and Sophie are barely surviving when an uninvited Nazi soldier knocks at their door, forces himself in and starts living with them.

Isabelle, the younger sister, doesn't agree with the passive lifestyle and the idea of watching the world burn. Unlike her sisters, she doesn't want to just survive the war, she wants to help in defeating the Nazis. Isabelle's rebellious nature and her ambition takes her to a dangerous path, and she ends up becoming an important member of the rebellion group.

This book is a fiction but not entirely. Isabelle's characters is inspired from Andree de Jongh - a nineteen year old girl who saved 118 soldiers from nazis during world War II. This book highlights the important and often overlooked contributions of women during the war.

It doesn’t hurt, it’s just my body. They can’t touch my soul.