"In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are." The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah's latest novel and a departure from her previous bestsellers, explores that powerful statement. Set in France during WWII, it's told as an epic flashback by an elderly woman, one of two sisters, now urged into assisted care by her son. What unfolds is the story of these sisters. Vianne is a mild, loving wife and mother living in a Loire village as her husband goes off to fight, while Isabelle, 10 years younger, is bold, impetuous, rebellious, and has just been expelled from yet another school. In their very different ways, they must confront the horrors of the Nazi occupation. Isabelle joins the resistance, becoming a famous passeur, leading downed allied airmen to freedom. Vianne quietly begins to save Jewish children in her village from deportation and death. Hannah makes the war's degradation and deprivation palpable and the valor of the sisters vivid, as does Polly Stone's Gallic-glazed narration. 

A GIRL WITH GUMPTION
Addie Baum, the irrepressibly feisty, endearing heroine of Anita Diamant's novel, The Boston Girl, comes to vibrant life in Linda Lavin's reading, with her pitch-perfect Boston-Jewish accent. Addie, now 85 and a doting grandmother, is more than willing to share her story, warts and all, with her youngest granddaughter. The first U.S.-born child of East European immigrants in 1900, Addie's life is a mirror of the transformations that made the 20th century so exciting. Her parents, a constantly carping mother and a somewhat disengaged father, held hard to their old-world values, and didn't understand a girl who wanted to go to high school and college. But Addie persevered and, step by unsteady step, built a life with meaning, found a man with whom she could share her liberal values and had both a career and a family. Diamant offers a heartwarming, but unsentimental, serenade to the immigrant experience.

TOP PICK IN AUDIO
John Grisham's latest, Gray Mountain isn't a whodunit or a traditional legal thriller. You know from the get-go that Big Coal, in collusion with politicians, judges, doctors and even some federal agencies, did it, does it and is determined to keep at it. "It" is the incredible devastation of Appalachia and of the miners and their families. Grisham has wrapped his impassioned advocacy for stopping Big Coal's rape of the land and the rampant pollution and ruined lives that come as collateral damage in a fast-paced page-turner. It stars an attractive, smart, well-educated young lawyer who was on the fast track to making partner in a prestigious New York law firm—until the 2008 crash. Suddenly, without a salary or a shiny future, Samantha Kofer finds herself at the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic in Brady, Virginia, a very small town in the heart of Appalachia. And suddenly, she's dealing with the victims of Big Coal's greed and the crusading local lawyers dedicated to helping them, no matter what the risk. Catherine Taber's performance makes Samantha, the good guys and the bad real and relevant.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Hannah's (Fly Away) latest begins with an old woman recalling her past. This unnamed woman intrudes occasionally throughout the book, disrupting the horrific tale of two sisters in World War II France. Thus, listeners learn that one sister survives the war—but which one? In 1939, Vianne, the older sibling, wants to believe that everything is for the best and refuses to see reality. Isabelle sees the situation more clearly, but she alienates Vianne (and many others) by saying exactly what she thinks and acting without considering the consequences. The sisters make very different and difficult choices as they deal with the German occupation. The final scene at a Paris reunion of war survivors shows how their choices influenced history and makes for a most satisfying conclusion. Polly Stone employs German, French, American, and British accents and perfect pacing to bring the listener fully into the period and action. Timid Vianne's slower pacing and higher pitch contrast with the forcefulness that characterizes Isabelle. Stone's dramatic choices heighten the danger, suspense, and tragedy. VERDICT Highly recommended. ["Readers who enjoy stories with ethical dilemmas and character-driven fiction will enjoy this story full of emotion and heart": LJ 1/15 review of the St. Martin's hc.]—Juleigh Muirhead Clark, Colonial Williamsburg Fdn. Lib., VA

Hannah's (Firefly Lane) heart-wrenching tour de force vividly brings to life the story of two sisters fighting for their lives in Nazi-occupied France. Viann, the older and more passive of the two, battles for normality for herself and her daughter in the countryside, while Isabelle, the passionate one, longs to work with the resistance in Paris. Filled with compassion, suffering, romance, and constant danger, this impossibly compelling story will bring tears to the eyes of listeners. Viann and Isabelle learn the hard way that bravery and strength can take on many forms and that the bonds of sisterhood may be tested but can never be broken. Polly Stone delivers an impeccable narration that brings the sisters and wartime France to life with a distinctive and memorable set of voices that will keep listeners coming back for more. VERDICT Fans of Hannah and of historical fiction will find themselves immensely pleased with this thought-provoking novel.—Erin Cataldi, Johnson Cty. P.L., Franklin, IN

Two very different sisters navigate life in WWII France in this sweeping story: Isabelle, an impetuous 18-year-old who is eager to defy the Nazis, and her much older and more traditional sister Vianne, who tries valiantly to keep home and hearth together. Reader Stone's strength lies in the emotional range she brings to her characters—not just the two sisters, but also their jaded, detached father, and even Vianne's small daughter, who grows up markedly during the war. Stone approaches the performance with an intuitive understanding of the characters' private fears, knowing that their inner lives are often quite different than their public faces, and that a good deal goes unsaid between them. She also performs an excellent French accent. But rather than trying to carry it through all of the conversations between the French characters, which would be tedious over the course of the novel, she wisely reserves it for names and places. However, the voice she employs for Captain Beck, a German officer billeted at Vianne's house, is stereotyped, and other international inflections—British, Eastern European—fall flat. A St. Martin's hardcover. (Feb.)