![]() Beck forges false identity papers for him so that the Nazis will not know he is Jewish. After the death of his sister, Sarah, and the arrest of his mother, Ari is adopted by Vianne, who changes his name to Daniel. ![]() Years later, in approximately 1980, she dies of cancer.Īriel (Ari) de Champlain (Daniel Mauriac) Rachel’s son, Ari is only an infant when the war begins. The war causes Sophie to grow up quickly, especially when her best friend, Sarah de Champlain, is killed. Like her aunt Isabelle, Sophie is less inclined than Vianne to readily obey German authority, and she challenges her mother to take action against the injustices of the Nazis. Rachel goes into hiding but unwisely comes out too soon and is seized, leaving behind her son, Ari. When Rachel learns that she is about to be deported to a concentration camp, she tries to flee with her two children, and her daughter, Sarah, is shot and killed in the attempt. Because Rachel is Jewish, Vianne sees firsthand the horrors that the Nazis inflict on French Jews, and her love for Rachel is part of what finally stirs Vianne out of apathy and encourages her to become involved in the resistance movement. Rachel de Champlain Vianne’s best friend and next-door neighbor. At the end of the war, he sees Isabelle one last time before she dies years later, he names his daughter Isabelle. Eventually he capitulates and becomes her lover even though he knows they are both risking heartache. They meet again as colleagues in the resistance effort, and Gaëtan continues refusing Isabelle’s interest in him. Gaëtan, believing that love is dangerous in war, abandons her. Gaëtan and Isabelle meet in the woods while she is fleeing Paris, and she decides to follow him to the war front, declaring her love for him. Gaëtan Dubois Isabelle’s love interest and fellow resistance fighter. When it becomes clear that Germany will lose the war, Von Richter evacuates with the rest of the occupying soldiers. Once he learns that he can make Vianne do anything by threatening her children, he begins raping her regularly, and Vianne becomes pregnant by him. Sturmbannführer Von Richter After Beck’s death, Von Richter takes up residence in Vianne’s home. In his search, he discovers Isabelle, and Vianne kills him. ![]() When an Allied airman is shot down near Carriveau and hidden on Vianne’s property by Isabelle, Beck’s superiors charge him with the task of locating the man. Beck doesn’t condone the Nazi mistreatment of Jews and tries to warn Vianne and Rachel before Rachel is deported. Although he represents the enemy, Beck is a compassionate and humane figure, and he and Vianne develop a forbidden, unspoken attraction to each other. Wolfgang Beck A Nazi captain who lives in Vianne’s home after the Nazis occupy Carriveau. When Julien learns that Isabelle has been captured by the Nazis and is being interrogated to determine the whereabouts of the Nightingale, he turns himself in to the Nazis and claims to be the Nightingale, condemning his life so that Isabelle’s will be spared. Although his daughters only think of him as a drunkard, he is secretly involved in the French resistance movement, using his skill as a former bookmaker to forge official documents. Julien Rossignol Father to Vianne and Isabelle, Julien grew emotionally distant from his daughters after his experiences in World War I and the death of his wife. Her camp is freed, and she returns home to see her sister and her lover, Gaëtan, one last time before her death. She is captured and sent to a concentration camp, where she contracts a fatal case of pneumonia. Eventually she becomes a passeur, helping Allied airmen shot down over Nazi-occupied France to escape by crossing the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. After being sent to and expelled from a series of girls’ schools, Isabelle puts her rebellious tendencies to use by joining the French resistance movement. Four years old at the time of her mother’s death, Isabelle was dismissed as an inconvenience by both her father and her sister, Vianne. Isabelle Rossignol (alias: Juliette Gervaise codename: the Nightingale) The younger daughter of Julien Rossignol and one of the novel’s heroines. Although she at first refuses to resist the Germans in any way and thinks her sister is irresponsible for doing so, Vianne later begins saving the lives of Jewish children by bringing them to an orphanage and providing them with forged identity papers. When Antoine is called away to war, Vianne and Sophie remain in Carriveau, which is soon occupied by the Nazis. After three miscarriages, she gave birth to a daughter she named Sophie. In due course, Vianne found solace by marrying Antoine Mauriac, whose affection distracted her from the emotional absence of her father and the neediness of her sister, Isabelle. Her mother died when she was 14 years old. Vianne (Rossignol) Mauriac The older daughter of Julien Rossignol and one of the novel’s heroines.
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