History Literature / TheNightingaleKristinHannah

* JerkAss: Sturmbannfuhrer von Richter. [[UpToEleven So much.]] It is difficult to find absolutely anything redeeming or likeable about him.

** Captain Beck is this trope in spades. He really tries to lessen the burden of occupation on the family he's staying with, to the point where townspeople gossip about his relationship with [[spoiler:Vianne]]. He brings them wine, food, and chocolate from time to time, even information about [[spoiler:Antoine, including his postal information and a guarantee for delivering care packages]]; he provides these favors generally without conditions. [[TheInformant Until he needs a list of all the people in the village that the Nazis might not appreciate]] or [[MoralDissonance drives said townspeople into train cars with a whip.]] Even afterwards, he's exceedingly kind to his "host family," and takes great care to avoid being a burden to them.

* AdultFear: Children are almost routinely abandoned, starved, threatened, harmed, and killed. Isabelle describes a ''two-year-old'' wandering around crying after [[spoiler: his or her parents are bombed and strafed to bits by German Stukas.]] WarIsHell, indeed.

** See the ObligatoryWarCrimeScene entry.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: A massive crowd of refugees clogs the roads leading away from Paris in their attempt to escape Nazi forces. [[HellIsThatNoise Cue]] [[StukaScream the]] [[DeathFromAbove Stukas]].

* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:Julien. Somewhat of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], since the child was the result of von Richter’s repeated rape of Vianne.]]

* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler:Rachel, Sarah, and Ari are distinctively Jewish names.]] GenreSavvy readers will immediately figure that these three are going to have some... [[{{Understatement}} difficulties]] with Nazis.

* ShownTheirWork: GenreSavvy readers who have an understanding of the sequence of events in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII can [[ForegoneConclusion follow right along]]. There are mentions of the Phoney War, the invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain, and Operation Torch, just to name a few.

* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: [[GenderFlip Gender-flipped.]] [[spoiler:Gaëton and Isabelle]] get it on after the former patches up the latter after being shot by [[spoiler:Captain Beck.]] [[{{UST}} It's about damn time.]]
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] with Vianne and Isabelle. It's obvious that Vianne sees it this way, and early on in the narrative, Isabelle is painted in an extremely impulsive and unsympathetic light. It comes to a boiling point when [[spoiler:Isabelle hides an ''actively hunted Allied airman'' in a cellar under Vianne's barn. Vianne is [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech spitting nails]] as she leaves Isabelle down there, threatening to report her to the Nazis herself if Isabelle ever comes near the house again.]] By the end of the book, [[spoiler:Vianne is in awe of Isabelle's courage and strength as The Nightingale, and deeply ashamed of her earlier threats to her own sister.]]

* LaResistance: Naturally, they appear early and often. Just as naturally...
* LesCollaborateurs: Can be just as dangerous as the Nazis themselves, and they don’t wear uniforms. The French police are particularly unscrupulous.
** VillainousGlutton: The chief of police in Carriveau actually ''gains'' weight as the story goes on (while the rest of the townspeople starve), which emphasizes how much he benefits from playing for the German side.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Julien does his best to make up for being a terrible father by taking the fall for Isabelle as The Nightingale.]]

* TakeCareOfTheKids: Common, given how many parents are rounded up and sent to camps on train cars. The most prominent example is [[spoiler:Rachel giving up Ari to Vianne.]]

* ThickerThanWater: Isabelle forces Vianne to make a tough decision by [[spoiler:hiding an Allied airman in the cellar under her barn.]] Vianne can either cover for Isabelle and put herself and Sophie at risk, or leave Isabelle to the consequences of her own rash decision. Her choice is resoundingly clear when [[spoiler:Beck discovers Isabelle hiding with the airman, and Vianne takes him out with a shovel.]] But not before [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech unloading a harsh, vindictive diatribe]] against Isabelle for putting her own family in so much danger... again.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior:
** Isabelle escaped a boarding school and hitch-hiked across France back to her father in Paris at age 11.
** Sophie rebuffs Vianne's attempt to console her, by claiming that no, she won't see [[spoiler:Sarah]] in heaven, because ''she was Jewish.'' Sophie makes it clear that she sees this as a ''patronizing'' comment from Vianne and does not appreciate it. Vianne is too shocked by this response to reply.

* ShovelStrike: How [[spoiler:Vianne offs Captain Beck in the barn when he discovers Isabelle with the airman.]]

* TheSiege: Paris is practically an open-air prison camp for most Parisians after the Battle of France.

* SiblingTeam: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] The description of the book might lead you to believe that Vianne and Isabelle need to [[ThickerThanWater rely on each other for strength during such tough times.]] But they're so different in personality and far apart in age that it never really materializes.
* SwitchingPOV: There are three points of view that take turns throughout the book: the old woman, Vianne, and Isabelle.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Vianne's reaction when she finds out [[spoiler:what use will be made of the list of names she provided Beck. Upon confessing this to Rachel and the abbess, they both confidently assert that she had [[TrappedInVillainy very little choice]] and that the [[MortonsFork names would have been uncovered eventually]]. Still, Vianne feels [[ItsAllMyFaulta terrible amount of shame]].]]

->"I know now what matters, and it is not what I lost. It is my memories. Wounds heal. Love lasts. We remain.”

* EverybodyLovesBlondes: Both Vianne and Isabelle are pretty blondes-- which both [[DistractedByTheSexy helps]] and [[AbhorrentAdmirer hurts]].

Meanwhile, [[ActionGirl Isabelle Rossignol]], Vianne's little sister, is expelled from another boarding school due to behavior issues, and goes to live with her father, [[AlcoholicParent Julian]], in Paris. They tolerate each other's existence until Germany finally invades. Julian forces Isabelle to evacuate Paris and go to her sister in the country right before Paris is sacked by German forces, hoping that at least they will be able to take care of each other until the war is over. Along the way, Isabelle loathes the idea of waiting out the war on the sidelines, and tries to find a way to help resist the invading Nazis...

* AlcoholicParent: Julian started in on the brandy when he returned home from war... and never stopped.

** Julian wants to make up for being a crappy dad. He just can't sort it out. [[spoiler:Until the end, and even then, it only prolongs the end for Isabelle.]]

* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:Julian. Somewhat of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], since the child was the result of von Richter’s repeated rape of Vianne.]]

** Julian, Vianne and Isabelle’s father, abandons them to a live-in nanny after their mother dies. Vianne gets knocked up by Antoine and is roughly given away in marriage, while Isabelle makes multiple attempts to reconnect with her father.

* HarmfulToMinors: Vianne laments that the war has practically robbed Sophie of the last bits of her childhood. Being constantly under mortal threat has permanently changed her personality from precocious to precautious.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: [[GratuitousGerman Sturmbannfuhrer]] von Richter flees Carriveau with the retreating Nazis before anyone makes him pay for what he did to Vianne.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Vianne's reaction when she finds out [[spoiler:what use will be made of the list of names she provided Beck. Upon confessing this to Rachel and the abbess, they both confidently assert that she had [[TrappedInVillainy very little choice]] and that the [[MortonsFork names would have been uncovered eventually]]. Still, Vianne feels a terrible amount of shame.]]

** Julian allows [[spoiler:Isabelle to re-open the bookshop]], even when he knows what it will be used for, and the hazards it will introduce for him. He knows it will make her happy and give her a way to contribute, which is really all she wants.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Julian does his best to make up for being a terrible father by taking the fall for Isabelle as The Nightingale.]]

* TheReveal: The final narrative reveals who the old woman is.[[spoiler: It’s Vianne.]]

* ShellShockedVeteran: Julian served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI at the [[PyrrhicVictory Battle of the Somme]], and the psychological toll is painfully visible. He begins drinking heavily when he comes home from war, and gives up on fatherhood entirely when his wife dies.

* ShownTheirWork: GenreSavvy readers who have an understanding of the sequence of events in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII can [[ForegoneConclusion follow right along]]. There are mentions of the Phoney War, the invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain, and Operation Torch, just to name a few. LaResistance doesn't even start seeing American pilots until Torch begins in earnest.

** Julian, as well. [[spoiler:It's part of the job, of course]], but he is rather gruff and reserved as a rule ''before'' the war.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Marc, Rachel's husband. Was he captured? Killed in action? We never find out.

* BritishStuffiness: The Nightingale comments on the casual reserve and stoicism of the British pilots, which would ordinarily pass for their having a StiffUpperLip... but the immediate comparison to the amiable, expressive American and Canadian pilots drops this in the category of negative portrayal.

* ChekhovsSkill: All those boarding schools Isabelle ran away from before the war? [[spoiler:Guess where Isabelle learned to speak English?]]