Based on separate suggestions from two trusted reader friends, I decided to venture outside my normal mystery/thriller genre and give Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale a try. It was a wise decision.
Although it is a long book (17.5 hours in audio, expertly read by Polly Stone), I finished it quickly because it was so interesting and so well written. Vianne Mauriac and Isabelle Rossignol are sisters, very different in both age and personality, trying to survive in war-torn Nazi occupied France. Politics, culture, religion, weather, family, friendships and the disruption of normal life all factor into a captivating story.
Not a spoiler — Rossignol is French for Nightingale, which becomes significant in the long run.