The Nightingale, by Kristen Hannah

Characters
Carriveau	Resistance
Vianne Mauriac Antoine – husband, prisoner of war Sophie – daughter Daniel Antoine Mauriac – Rachel’s son Ari Julien Mauriac – son conceived in rape, surgeon in America Julien and Madeline Rossignol – parents Rachel de Champlain – friend Sarah and Ari – children Captain Wolfgang Beck – Nazi lodger, killed Sturmbannfuhrer Von Richter – Nazi lodger Paul – policeman, collaborated with Germans, well-fed	Isabelle Rossignol – Vianne’s sister Juliette Gernaise – resistance identity, "The Nightingale" Julien Rossignol – father, poet, made forged documents Gaetan Dubois Monsieur Levy Anouk Henri Navarre Didier Madame Micheline Babineau Eduardo Edith Cavell – role model for Juliette

 For discussion:

1. Vianne and Isabelle were young when their mother died (approximately 14 and 4) and they were rejected by their father.   Could Vianne have been expected to act any differently toward Isabelle?
2. When Captain Beck asked Vianne to write the names of the Jewish citizens in the town (page 116), it seemed that he already knew the names.  Why did he ask her to do this?  Did Vianne have any choice?
3. Were you surprised at Rachel’s reaction when Vianne told her about including her name on the list?  Would you have been angry or understanding? 
4. Discuss the Carriveau citizens’ reactions to the German occupation.  Could they have reasonably fought back?
5. At one point, Captain Beck brought home a fish he had caught and asked Vianne to cook it for their dinner.  Was she right or wrong to accept the fish? (Beginning of chapter 15.)
6. In chapter 18, were you surprised that Isabelle’s father knew what she was doing?  Should or could he have done more to protect her?
7. In chapter 25, Isabelle hid airmen in Vianne’s barn.  Was she justified inputting Vianne and Sophie at risk?   Should Vianne have been more supportive?

8. Discuss the various characters and their relationships with each other:
1. Captain Beck – both human-being and enemy
2. Isabelle – willful rebel and resistance fighter
3. Vianne – eventually risked everything, including Sophie, to help Jewish orphans
4. Julien (father) – appeared to work for Germans but instead was working with resistance, sacrificed life for Isabelle
9. In the last lines of chapter 29 Vianne told the Mother Superior at the orphanage that she had to act because she could not “…let her [Sophie] believe it’s all right to do nothing in times such as these.”  Was she right to put Sophie at risk? 
10. In chapter 37, Vianne gave the Red Cross the names of the 19 children she had saved and asked to have them reunited with their families.  Then the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) came to take Ari/Daniel to live with his relatives in Boston.   Do you think it was the best thing for the children to be uprooted again? 
11. Do you think Vianne should tell Julien his parentage and history?  Why did she not share her part in the war as well as Isabelle’s with him?
12. Discuss your reading experience.  Did you learn anything?  Did you enjoy the novel?

*****

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