The story of a family living in a small town in France when the Nazis invade. The husband goes off to war, but the real focus of the story is his wife, Vianne, and her sister, Isabelle, who are forced to stay behind, and try to survive, and even resist, the Nazi occupation. It’s a powerful work of historical fiction that gives a unique, and often heartbreaking perspective on WWII (yep… this one made me cry).
Although all the characters in this book are fictional, they are heavily inspired by real people. I’ll avoid saying who, to avoid spoilers, and only say that it’s extraordinary that there were real people who did something similar to Vianne and Isabelle. They are heroes, and victims, and survivors. And as fascism rears its ugly head again in the US and Europe, telling their stories is as important as ever.
