Books to read after reading The Nightingale

Whether you are looking for stirring, real-life accounts of the strength and courage of women during WWII, or would like to read a sweeping historical novel like Kristin Hannah’s bestseller, this list will provide you with a great book to pick up next:

Nonfiction:

   The Unwomanly Face of War, by Svetlana Aleksievich: In this classic work of journalism, Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexiavitch relays the first hand oral accounts of women on the front lines, on the home front, and in occupied territories during WWII.
Behind Enemy Lines by Martha Cohn: Tells the courageous, true story of a young Jewish woman living in France during the German occupation who joined the French military to pose as a German Nurse and obtain valuable information for the Allied forces.
Marianne in Chains, by Robert Gildea: The author relays first hand accounts of daily-life and daily struggle in German occupied France, just as Kristin Hannah depicted in the struggles in Vianne’s Carriveau.
Resistance, by Agnes Humbert: A courageous and painful first-hand account of one of the brave women that joined the resistance during the German occupation of France, as Isabelle did in The Nightingale.
A Train in Winter, by Caroline Moorhead: A poignant collection of interviews and primary sources uncovering the dark but hopeful history of the female resistors in German-occupied France. they hailed from all over France from many different backgrounds and occupations, but all were united in their hatred and defiance of the occupiers. A remarkable celebration of the power of female friendship and conviction.

Fiction:

The Zookeeper’s Wife, by Diane Ackerman: A New York Times Bestseller, The Zookeeper’s Wife tells the story of the Zabinski family, polish zookeepers, who, after their animals have been killed at the hands of the German occupying forces, begin to house Jews in the depths of the Zoo to keep them from being deported or killed. This is a brave and thrilling story.
All the Light There Was, by Nancy Kricorian: A moving story of an Armenian Family in Paris at the height of the German occupation, it depicts the gathering of provisions, and the children’s active resistance to the occupying forces, amidst the ever-increasing urgency of their situation.
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr: A beautiful, atmospheric story of love and loss in World War II France. A blind young woman falls in love with a German boy amidst the devastation of the Nazi occupation of France.
The Kites, by Romain Gary: Inspired by the author’s own experiences in the French resistance, The Kites tells the story of a young boy in Normandy thrust by his love for a Polish girl to resist the German forces that have disappeared her family.  This novel was originally published in 1980, but has been published in English by award-winning translator Miranda Richmond Mouillot in 2017 for the first time.
The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah: At once an epic story of human survival and love, and an intimate portrait of a family tested beyond endurance, The Great Alone offers a glimpse into a vanishing way of life in America. With her trademark combination of elegant prose and deeply drawn characters, Kristin Hannah has delivered an enormously powerful story that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the remarkable and enduring strength of women. About the highest stakes a family can face and the bonds that can tear a community apart, this is a novel as spectacular and powerful as Alaska itself. It is the finest example of Kristin Hannah’s ability to weave together the deeply personal with the universal.
Suite Francaise by Irina Nemirovsky: A moving and poignant account of a cast of French people fighting for survival in myriad ways (scrounging for provisions, resisting, collaborating) during the occupation of France beginning in 1940. The author, herself a french citizen and a Jewish woman, was deported to the camps in Germany where she died before completing all three parts of the novel. Her daughters saved the two parts she had completed, and published her novel forty years later.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark Sullivan: Set in Italy during the German’s fight for control of Italy, This riveting novel tells the story of Pino, a young boy who is conscripted by the German forces to be a driver for one of Hitler’s top Generals. As he gains loyalty in his position, he becomes a spy reporting back activities to the Allied forces.