The Nightingale

Beck chats with Vianne as the latter cooks dinner, confiding that he is married and expecting a child. Vianne finds herself both reassured and unsettled by these commonplace remarks and invites him to eat with her family. Isabelle leaves the meal early, declining the wine Beck brings with him on the grounds that “ordinary French families can’t afford to drink it” (112); Sophie then follows suit. Left alone with Vianne, Beck remarks that Isabelle reminds him of his daughter, who is similarly stubborn. When Vianne runs into Beck in the garden later that evening, she tentatively asks him for news of her husband.

As Beck explains that he does not know anything about Antoine’s fate, Isabelle interrupts with the news that she plans to return to Paris. Vianne feels that this is probably for the best, but Isabelle is stopped by a sentry at the train station, who tells her she needs an Ausweis (a kind of identity card) to travel. Frustrated and disgusted by the complacency of much of Carriveau, Isabelle returns home, where Vianne tells her that she expects her to help by standing in line for rations each day.

A week passes with Isabelle doing her best to keep her head down. However, while waiting for rations one morning, she spots a piece of chalk on the ground and secretly pockets it. She then ducks into an alley and draws a V (for “victory”) on a Nazi poster. As she finishes, a man grabs her from behind, asking whether she knows her actions are “punishable by death” (121).

While Isabelle is in town, Vianne chops wood in preparation for the coming winter, and Beck flusters her by offering to do the chore. Rachel arrives, and the women walk with their daughters to the schoolhouse. On the way, Rachel remarks that Beck is “handsome” and that Vianne’s vague response to this observation is “interesting” (125).

Meanwhile, Didier, the man who grabbed Isabelle, drags her inside a building occupied by a group of men. As Didier explains what he found her doing, Isabelle deduces that the men are French and—in the case of one “handsome young man in a tattered sweater and worn pants with scuffed boots” (127)—communists. This man introduces himself as Henri Navarre and asks whether Isabelle would like to do more than deface posters—the group receives anti-Nazi tracts from a contact in Paris and is searching for someone who can distribute them without attracting the authorities’ attention. Despite Henri’s warnings that the activity is punishable by death, Isabelle eagerly accepts, counting on her charm and good looks to keep her out of trouble.

Isabelle leaves with a set of tracts hidden in her shopping basket, only to run into Beck on her way home. To Isabelle’s horror, he insists on carrying her basket to the pantry. Isabelle writes off her visible nervousness as fear of the Gestapo’s dogs, then returns later to retrieve the papers. She sneaks out of the house early the next morning, distributing the tracts in mailboxes before lining up for rations.

Vianne passes the summer worrying about Antoine and preserving food for winter. One day in October, she spots Isabelle sneaking out of an alley and concludes that she must have a secret boyfriend. When confronted, Isabelle insists that her early morning departures are simply a means of ensuring the family gets its share of rations.

As the women return home, they are stopped by Beck, who apologetically reveals that Antoine is in a POW camp. Vianne, in a state of shock, must be ushered home by Isabelle, who tells her sister she has no choice but to learn to survive on her own now. Vianne pulls a loose thread from one of Antoine’s sweaters and ties it around the branch of an apple tree as a makeshift memorial. She then goes to see Rachel because Beck provided Vianne with a list of POWs, and Rachel’s husband was among them.

A few days later, Vianne and Rachel call a meeting to inform other women whose husbands have been taken prisoner what has happened. Vianne explains that she has postcards they can use to write, which sparks murmurs about the nature of her relationship with Beck. Vianne retorts that she had no choice but to let him billet with her and denies that she accepts additional food or other luxuries from him. Rachel defends Vianne and consoles her after the other women have departed, saying they were “just scared” (148).

When Vianne returns home, she approaches Beck with the postcards and asks him to send them to the correct address. Beck agrees but also asks her for a favor: he is assembling a list of “Jews. Communists. Homosexuals. Freemasons [and] Jehovah’s Witnesses” (150) and wants her help identifying Jewish or communist teachers. Vianne hesitates but provides a list of names when Beck promises to mail a package for her as well. She attempts to leave Rachel’s name off the list, but she adds it when Beck prompts her, “[s]lowly, feeling sick to her stomach” (152).

By late November, supplies of goods like sugar and coffee are running out. At breakfast, Sophie complains that the Germans are requisitioning most of the town’s food, and Beck—to Vianne’s dismay—responds by giving her a piece of chocolate. Vianne walks to work with Rachel as usual, but the school day is soon interrupted by the arrival of a Nazi official and a French policeman. Vianne asks what is happening, and they inform her that “Jews and communists and Freemasons” (159) working at the school are being fired.

Remembering the list she gave Beck, Vianne confronts him at his office, where she notices “boxes and boxes of food, heaps of cured meats and wheels of cheese stacked against the back wall” (161). Beck tells her he genuinely thought the list was only for administrative purposes and cautions her against being seen at German headquarters. Sure enough, several women—Isabelle included—see Vianne leaving. Isabelle confronts Vianne, criticizing her for turning to Beck for help and for giving him the list. Distraught and confused, Vianne goes to visit her old friend Mother Superior Marie-Therese, who cautions her that “[t]his is only [Vianne’s] first test” (165). Vianne then goes to Rachel and confesses everything. Though upset, Rachel forgives Vianne and warns her not to trust Beck.

Isabelle continues distributing pamphlets throughout the following winter, despite the brutal cold and the apathy of most of Carriveau. One morning, she notices posters informing the public that three people have been executed as spies and that “henceforth, all French people arrested for any crime or infraction will be considered hostages” and shot in retaliation “when a hostile act against Germany occurs in France” (173). Then, Isabelle spots an unattended bicycle and impulsively steals it, hoping to make her daily commute easier. She takes the bike to Henri, who identifies it as belonging to an SS officer and offers to paint it in exchange for a kiss. Isabelle agrees, but Henri guesses she is in love with someone else.

One day in April, Vianne hands Isabelle a note from Henri requesting a meeting. Assuming the two are having an affair, Vianne scolds her sister for becoming involved with a communist. Isabelle ignores this and heads into town to the group’s headquarters, where Henri tells her he needs someone to deliver an important message to Paris. Once there, she would act as their “letter box” (182) for future communications. Despite Henri’s warning that accepting the mission will entail added secrecy and danger, Isabelle agrees, asking only that he look after Vianne in her absence.

Back at the house, Vianne is fuming over Isabelle’s recklessness when Beck and several soldiers arrive with orders to confiscate much of the house’s furniture and tear down its garden wall: “The Sturmbannführer wants to be able to see all houses from the road. Somebody is distributing anti-German propaganda” (184).

Isabelle returns, announcing that she needs to travel to Paris to attend to her sick father, and Beck agrees to help her get a travel pass. In private, Vianne asks about their father’s illness, and Isabelle admits she lied, instead claiming that she is traveling to Paris to carry on a love affair with Henri. Vianne is disgusted and, when Isabelle tells her to stay away from Beck, accuses Isabelle of all but abandoning her and Sophie to him.