Summary In 1995, the elderly woman and her son, Julien, arrive in Paris for the passeurs’ reunion. She insists on walking from her hotel room to the reunion despite the distance. When they arrive, everyone takes notice of her entrance, and she is called up to the podium. She begins […]
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Summary In a Paris hospital, Micheline and Isabelle say good-bye to each other before being sent home. Isabelle meets Vianne in Carriveau. Isabelle is still bedridden with fever and coughing up blood, reminding both of them of their mother’s death. Vianne apologizes for believing that Isabelle was being selfish when […]
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Summary The German guards at Isabelle’s concentration camp leave suddenly, and a group of American soldiers arrives to free the camp. Looking for Isabelle, Vianne and Sophie go to a hotel where concentration camp survivors have begun returning to. Vianne gives a Red Cross worker the list of the nineteen […]
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Summary As the war nears its end in the spring of 1945, Isabelle and Micheline try to stay alive in Ravensbruck, hoping that they will soon be rescued. Because of the brutal conditions of the camp, Isabelle develops a fever and begins coughing up blood. The Germans decide to transport […]
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Summary Von Richter repeatedly and violently rapes Vianne. Sophie notices her mother’s bruises and guesses the truth, asking Vianne why she doesn’t kill him in his sleep. Vianne begins having morning sickness and realizes she is pregnant with Von Richter’s child. The Germans, nearing defeat in the war, pull out […]
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Summary Julien confesses to being the Nightingale so that Isabelle will be freed. Isabelle tries to save him by professing that she is the Nightingale, but the Nazis don’t believe her. Julien is executed. The next day, Vianne comes to try to save her sister and her father. She finds […]
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Summary The Nazis interrogate and torture Isabelle. They ask her who the Nightingale is, assuming the Nightingale is a man and not realizing they have already caught the secret operative. When she refuses to tell them anything, they lock her in a refrigerator. In desperation, the Germans begin displaying the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 33Summary and Analysis Chapter 32
Summary Isabelle meets with her father, Julien, who has overheard the Gestapo discussing the Nightingale and begs her to let someone else take over her work. She refuses. During her next trip to the Spanish border, Isabelle and three Allied airmen are at Madame Babineau’s cottage when a group of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 32Summary and Analysis Chapter 31
Summary In 1995, the elderly woman is about to board a plane when her son, Julien, appears. He has gotten her phone message and thinks it is unacceptable for her to travel to Paris alone as old and sick as she is. Instead of trying to stop her, he decides […]
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Summary As Isabelle and Gaetan travel together to rejoin the war effort, they pass a roadblock. There, a German soldier informs them that the Nazis are taking over the Free Zone, where the French government had been in control, making Isabelle’s work more dangerous. Isabelle and Gaetan spend one last […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 30