Regular readers here know the love I have for Susan May Warren and her books. I had missed Nightingale though so when it was recently on sale on Kindle, I scooped it up and finished it last night.

The good: It’s by Susan May Warren, so of course it’s well-written and engaging. The story is well-researched and absolutely perfect in its time-setting.

But … for some reason I didn’t connect with the characters and story as I usually do in Warren’s books. I’m sure it was just me, maybe I’m in a weird place mentally this week. Or month. Because I always love all of Warren’s books.

Esther is a nurse in Wisconsin, waiting for her fiancé and the father of her young daughter to come home from World War II.

Peter is a German medic who writes to Esther to send her the letter entrusted to him by a dying soldier.

They begin a correspondence and develop a relationship.

Esther knows she doesn’t love Linus, her fiancé, and he doesn’t love her. But how can she love a German?

Warren’s theme in Nightingale is can one mistake in the past define our future? Are there such things as grace and mercy and a fresh start?

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot so I’ll stop there. I probably won’t review this one on Amazon since I got my hand slapped there recently by one of Susie’s friends who questioned why I said in the review that I loved the book but only gave it 4 stars (I reserve 5 stars for the truly exceptional).

Nightingale is good, excellent even, just not 5 star to me. I do recommend it!