Hey everyone!!! After two long years, it’s finally here! My new book, The Nightingale, is available in stores today. Of all the books I’ve written, this is hands down my favorite. It is an epic love story and family drama set in France at the dawn of World War II.
Those of you who have read me before know that this novel is a bit of a departure for me.
Sometimes a story sneaks up on you, hits you hard and dares you to look away. That was the case with The Nightingale. In truth, I did everything I could not to write this novel. But when research on World War II led me to the story of a young Belgian woman who had created an escape route out of Nazi-Occupied France, I was hooked. Her story — one of heroism and danger and unbridled courage — became the starting point. I simply couldn’t turn away. I had to keep digging, discovering, reading, and that story led me to others that were equally fascinating. Stories about women who had saved Jewish children and rescued downed airmen and put themselves in harm’s way to save others. Women who had paid terrible, unimaginable prices for their heroism.
Their stories were impossible to ignore. I found myself consumed with a single, haunting question, as relevant today as it was seventy years ago: When would I, as a wife and mother, risk my life — and more importantly, my child’s life — to save a stranger?
In war, women’s stories are all too often forgotten or overlooked. Women tend to come home from the battlefield and say nothing and go on with their lives. The Nightingale is a novel about those women and the daring, dangerous choices they made to save their children and their way of life.
I hope you love it as much as I do.
Here’s what Sara Gruen, bestselling author of Water for Elephants, had to say:
“The Nightingale is a beautifully written and richly evocative examination of life, love, and the ravages of war, and the different ways people react to unthinkable situations — not to mention the terrible and mounting toll of keeping secrets. This powerhouse of a story is equally packed with action and emotion, and is sure to be another major hit. I loved it!”
For more scoop and a bunch of cool behind-the-scenes material, check out my website, KristinHannah.com.
I am on my way to the airport as I write this, getting ready for a 16-city tour. (You can see the current tour date schedule below, as well as at this link.) There are so many wonderful cities I will be missing and I’m sorry for that!!
I would love to be able to meet all of you and talk to you individually about this very special book. So if I’m not coming to your town, please come on over to Facebookand join me. I love hearing from readers.
Happy reading, Kristin
More About The Nightingale
In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are.
FRANCE, 1939
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
If you would like a signed copy, I will be signing extra copies at all of my tour stops, noted below. If you are not able to attend an event and would like a signed copy, please contact the store.
Signed copies also will be available from my local bookseller, Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, Washington. Please stop by the store or contact them to arrange for this. Phone: 360-779-5909 Fax: 360-779-9746libertybaybooks@embarqmail.com
“I loved Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale. She has captured a particular slice of French life during World War II with wonderful details and drama. But what I loved most was the relationship between two sisters and Hannah’s exploration of what we do in moments of great challenge.” — Lisa See, author of the New York Times bestseller Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
“In this epic novel, set in France in World War II, two sisters who live in a small village find themselves estranged when they disagree about the imminent threat of occupation. Separated by principles and temperament, each must find her own way forward as she faces moral questions and life-or-death choices. Haunting, action-packed, and compelling.” — Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train
“Hannah’s latest is a page-turner that will no doubt have readers reaching for tissues. This moving, emotional tribute to the brave women who fought behind enemy lines during the war is bound to gain the already immensely popular Hannah an even wider audience. [The Nightingale] is positioned to take the book world by storm.” — Booklist
Early praise for the audiobook:
“Filled with compassion, suffering, romance and constant danger, this impossibly compelling story will bring tears to the eyes of listeners. Fans of Hannah and historical fiction will find themselves immensely pleased with this thought-provoking novel.” — Library Journal Click here to read more praise for The Nightingale.
Tour Dates
Tuesday, February 3, 2015 | 7:00pm Barnes & Noble 150 East 86th Street New York, NY Reading and Signing
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 | 7:00pm Book Revue 313 New York Avenue Huntington, NY 631-271-1442 Reading and Signing
Thursday, February 5, 2015 | 7:00pm R. J. Julia 768 Boston Post Rd. Madison, CT 203-245-3959 Reading and Signing
Friday, February 6, 2015 | 7:00pm Quail Ridge Books Ridgewood Shopping Center 3522 Wade Avenue Raleigh, NC 919-828-1588 Reading and Signing
Saturday, February 7, 2015 | 1:00pm Foxtale Book Shoppe 105 East Main Street Atlanta, GA 770-516-9989 Reading and Signing
Sunday, February 8, 2015 | 1:00pm-3:00pm Costco 6350 Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE Atlanta, GA Signing
Monday, February 9, 2015 | 6:30pm Parnassus Bookstore Hillsboro Plaza Shopping Center 3900 Hillsboro Pike Nashville, TN 615-953-2243 Reading and Signing
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 | 7:00pm Poisoned Pen Bookstore 4014 N. Goldwater Blvd. #101 Scottsdale, AZ 85251 480-947-2974 Reading and Signing
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 | 7:30pm Warwick’s 7812 Girard Avenue La Jolla, CA 858-454-0347 Reading and Signing
Friday, February 13, 2015 | 7:00pm Vroman’s 695 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 626-449-5320 Reading and Signing
Saturday, February 14, 2015 | 2:00pm Barnes & Noble 160 S. Westlake Blvd. Thousand Oaks, CA 805-446-2820 Reading and Signing
Saturday, February 21, 2015 | 1:00pm-3:00pm Costco 1801 10th Avenue NW Issaquah, WA Signing
Tuesday, February 24, 2015 | 7:00pm Third Place Books Lake Forest Park 17171 Bothell Way NE Lake Forest Park, WA Reading and Signing
Thursday, February 26, 2015 | Show starts at 7:00pm The Chuckanut Radio Hour with Village Books The Crystal Ballroom at The Leopold 1224 Cornwall Ave. Bellingham, WA 98225 Interview with Kristin with booksigning to follow
Saturday, March 7, 2015 Liberty Bay Books 18881 Front Street NE Poulsbo, WA Details to come
For Book Clubs: A Discussion Guide for The Nightingale — and How to Schedule a Chat with Me for Your Book Club
The Nightingale is perfect for a book club discussion. It is sure to spark conversation about the themes of family, sisters, love and war — and what you think you would do faced with the challenges that Vianne and Isabelle encounter.
You can find the discussion guide for The Nightingalehere, but please do not read it until you have read the book as it does contain spoilers!
You can find discussion guides for all of my books here.
Additionally, I would love to talk to book clubs by phone. There’s a form located here where you can request my participation in your discussion.
