Viann's husband is captured as a prisoner of war, and she is forced to take in a German captain to provide food for her young child. From there, the reader is plunged into the darkness of war in countryside and city, as husbands and fathers are forced to enlist while the Germans take over their towns, billeting themselves in people's homes, gorging on food while forcing starved locals to wait in endless lines for rations. Then the Germans conquer France, and the sisters' lives change even more drastically. Rebellious Isabelle gets herself kicked out of multiple schools. Viann, the eldest sister, sought comfort in the arms of a schoolmate, consequently finding herself pregnant and married at just 16. Viann and Isabelle Rossignol have taken very different paths after their mother's devastating death and their father's transformation into a distant and withdrawn parent. From that beginning, the reader is taken from the west coast of modern day America to early 20th century France. Our story begins with the voice of an old woman, reminiscing after the recent death of her husband: "I am boxing up the Oregon beach side life I settled into nearly fifty years ago." She's also unwell, but not eager to move, and she carefully gets herself up to the attic to locate one important piece from her past. The historical fiction genre is new for Hannah, the best selling author of titles like Fly Away and Firefly Lane. Martin's Press, 2015) by Kristin Hannah, a heart-wrenching tour de force that examines the bravery of two sisters in occupied France during WWII. Our current Read of the Week is The Nightingale (New York : St.
For every work of pure escapism on the best seller lists, there is typically a corresponding story of genuine human struggle.
I wonder if people seek out the genre of historical fiction to override that in some way, to read and learn in an intimate, first-hand way what it means to live through the hardest times. We're bombarded by images and stories so violent and unspeakable that, sadly, today's news can feel like old news. In a world of 24/7 global news, we can become desensitized to the horrors of war and the courage displayed by those who wage against those horrors.
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