The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

//Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.//

Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

Wars, regardless of their political reasons, geographical locations, and historical timelines, have always seemed like men's arena. It is always their stories that we hear, their stories that we base history on, their stories that we cry, hate and love (others/war) because of. It makes me wonder why or if ever, we think about what women did when men were taking care of wars. If we remember how many losses and struggles go unnoticed or unwritten simply because they took place at home. Simply because they had women in them. This is why books like this, like The Mountains Sing and many others are now receiving their due credit, as they should. These stories tell us what went on with those left behind. How standing in line to get your daily ration wasn't just about standing in a line and coming home. It was a war of its own, a war that's so seldom talked about.

The Nightingale is a feminist novel. You won't like it if you brush up women's history, especially during wartime, as just made up stories. If you can't believe or digest how women risked their lives just as much as men did (throughout history) and often went on with their lives even when they received zero recognition for it, you won't like this book. However, that is not all this book is about. It is also about those many relationships, emotions, and decisions taken in the light of what was going on back then (a war, an occupation, a genocide) that shaped people. It's also about brotherhood and sisterhood. It's also about unrequited love. It's also about the repercussions of war on men and women alike and their ability to love. It is about family, that created by biology and that by choice, by love, by fraternity. This book is about courage and pain and loss and tragedy, and it is about beauty in the face of it all.