SERENDIPITOUS TUESDAY: INTROS/TEASERS – “THE NIGHTINGALE”

 

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Join me in the delights of Tuesday, when we feature books we are excited about reading.  Today’s spotlight is on The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, an ARC from Amazon Vine.

 

 

 

Intro:  (April 9, 1995, The Oregon Coast)

If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this:  In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.  Today’s young people want to know everything about everyone.  They think talking about a problem will solve it.  I come from a quieter generation.  We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.

Lately, though, I find myself thinking about the war and my past, about the people I lost.

Lost.

It makes it sound as if I misplaced my loved ones; perhaps I left them where they don’t belong and then turned away, too confused to retrace my steps.

They are not lost.  Nor are they in a better place.   They are gone.  As I approach the end of my years, I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.

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Teaser:  My house, named The Peaks by the lumber baron who built it over a hundred years ago, is for sale, and I am preparing to move because my son thinks I should.

He is trying to take care of me, to show how much he loves me in this most difficult of times, and so I put up with his controlling ways. (p. 2).

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Goodreads Description:  From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an epic novel of love and war, spanning from the 1940s to the present day, and the secret lives of those who live in a small French town.

Viann and Isabelle have always been close despite their differences. Younger, bolder sister Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann lives a quiet and content life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. When World War II strikes and Antoine is sent off to fight, Viann and Isabelle’s father sends Isabelle to help her older sister cope. As the war progresses, it’s not only the sisters’ relationship that is tested, but also their strength and their individual senses of right and wrong. With life as they know it changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Viann and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.

Vivid and exquiste in its illumination of a time and place that was filled with great monstrosities, but also great humanity and strength, Kristin Hannah’s novel will provoke thought and discussion that will have readers talking long after they turn the last page.

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I love an epic novel every now and then, and this one has captured my interest.  What do you think?  Would you keep reading?

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