The Nightingale

In the days following Pétain’s surrender and the division of France into an occupied zone and a puppet state, Vianne remains convinced that the worst is over. However, she is worried about Isabelle’s outspoken criticism of the new regime, particularly given how much Sophie admires her aunt. When German troops arrive in Carriveau, Vianne warns Isabelle to keep quiet to avoid endangering the whole family.

Nevertheless, Isabelle is determined to do something, and she begins hiding food, medical supplies, valuables, etc., beneath a trapdoor in the family barn. That same evening, she listens with relief to Charles de Gaulle’s “Appeal of 18 June” on the radio: “This was what she’d been waiting to hear. There was something to be done, a fight to engage in. The surrender wasn’t final” (93).

A few days later, Carriveau’s residents are forced to attend a meeting at the town hall, where the Gestapo announce that they must turn over their radios and weapons, obey a curfew, and comply with rationing and requisitioning. Additionally, soldiers who have been taken prisoner will remain in POW camps, and “any act of sabotage or espionage or resistance will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy” (96). On the way home, Isabelle announces that she intends to keep the family radio and gun.