The Nightingale

This book is the mass market size. So it’s super tiny. The information provided is incorrect.

A WW2 Resistance Romance novel. Seems to be an emerging genre. 'The Nightingale' uses Nazi occupied France as a scary backdrop for romance and intrigue as a contemporary female narrator reaches back in time to uncover the story of two courageous women who ... blah blah.I was plugging along gamely hoping for the best when it dawned on me around Page 90 that I didn't care about any of these characters. The writing is really bad - adolescent and cliched. I'm going to assume that was intentional - meant to appeal to a specific audience. "He grinned crookedly. It gave him a lopsided look, with one side of his smile hiking up farther than the other." Ah, glad she explained what lopsided means.OK I'm just here to warn people who are expecting a good book that this isn't one. I don't know who is giving this thing 5 stars.

Good grief. It's difficult to review this book without using the most desperate adjectives in the English language. So I can't. Tragic, turgid, depressing, cheerless, dreary, desolate, grim, dismal - this is without doubt the most awful book I have ever waded my way through. Had I not paid full price for it I would have binned it in despair. We are offered a pair of two-dimensional sisters locked in the setting of WW2 in France (where I questioned the historical accuracy on a number of occasions) so agreed, this is not the backdrop for joy but despite this, there is not one shred of hope in this entire novel. If (spoiler alert) extreme poverty, dead children, rape, vicious cruelty at the hands of SS/Gestapo is your thing then knock yourself out - it's all here friends. Along with heaps of repetition, overly-long description (how many times do we really need to hear about Isabelle's blistered, bloodied, battered, broken feet that she can barely hobble another step on?) and acts of heroism that simply defy belief. I soldiered on to the bitter end (and boy, was it bitter) just to find out (partial spoiler alert) what happened to the old lady but even that was a non-event. I don't think I have ever cared less about any characters in a book and I just wanted it to end.If, however, you are looking for a great story of the triumph of hope over despair, may I respectfully direct you to the truly brilliant work of Janine Cummins and 'American Dirt' where you can find a superb novel which blends a desperate and believable story of survival with characters you actually care about and a genuinely hopeful ending. Or 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman which is simply the best book I have read in years. Utterly heartbreaking yet completely uplifting all at the same time - now that is just genius.This book? Move away. Very fast. I've made a note of the author's name so that I never accidentally buy any of her work again.

⭐: 2.5📖: So often the stories of WW2 are the stories of men, rarely are we told the stories of the women who stayed behind. This is the story of two brave sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, and their struggle for survival in France.💭: This style of historical fiction writing reminded me of The Tattooist of Auschwitz. A historical fiction slash romance novel. There were a couple of instances where 'was' is used instead of 'were', which always irritates me, and there are a lot of clichés! Unfortunately I did not feel that the characters were realistic or believable but I did enjoy reading an alternative perspective of WW2. The descriptions about France are not believable (which is understandable as the author is American) and it irritated me that some French obvious phrases were used every now and again to try and remind the reader than the characters would actually be speaking in French and not English. The baguette, beret clichés are also used! This book has SO many 5 star reviews but sadly isn't one for me.

I cannot give any review regarding this book as the print is so ridiculously small even with my reading glasses it is uncomfortable to read. This is the problem with buying books online as you are unable to view the font size. It says in the foreword that it is the first by Kristin Hannah to be published in the UK so maybe someone can inform her agents that this is not the normal font size for UK paperbacks. I have been a reader of paperbacks for 60 years and apart from a few of the classics this is not the usual size used by UK printers.I will not buy any more from this author or from the publishers Panmacmillan.com unless I am able to view and reject them before the privilege of paying!!

Oh dear! A full set of zero points from all at book club. Not a single point from anyone.It’s the only book I’ve ever binned and not taken to Oxfam books because I wouldn’t want to inflict it on anyone!Worse than chick lit. Dire. We did have fun read aloud some of the ridiculous corny quotes though. In fact it made for an entertaining book club meeting for that alone!It’s also inspired me to think about writing our own novel because.. if this novel could be published surely I could write better!In summary a load of old drivel, verging on insulting