The Nightingale

by

Kristin Hannah

Isabelle Rossignol Character Analysis

Isabelle Rossignol is the sister of Vianne Mauriac and the daughter of Julien Mauriac. From a young age, Isabelle is a rebel who does not do well in school and does not like acting like a lady. She rejects the role the gender norms that society forces on her, and when war comes, she is eager to sign up for the resistance. Isabelle is brave but also reckless, and her carelessness frequently endangers her loved ones. Isabelle’s actions regularly upset Vianne. Ultimately, though, Isabelle’s bravery outweighs her negative attributes and, although she can still be headstrong, she largely grows out of her reckless nature over the course of the novel. In fact, she becomes an active part of the French resistance and, in doing so, saves the lives of hundreds of people. Isabelle is a war hero and the novel’s title is a reference to her codename, “The Nightingale.” Toward the end of the novel, the Nazis discover Isabelle’s resistance efforts and send her to a Nazi labor camp. There, she experiences brutal torture that breaks her physical body—but never her spirit. Isabelle survives the camp just long enough to reunite with her lover, Gaëtan, and with Vianne. She dies at the novel’s end.

Isabelle Rossignol Quotes in The Nightingale

The The Nightingale quotes below are all either spoken by Isabelle Rossignol or refer to Isabelle Rossignol. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Morality and Impossible Choices Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator) (speaker), Isabelle Rossignol, Gaëtan, Julien Mauriac, Ari de Champlain
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Ah. Consequences,” Madame said. “Perhaps now you will see that they should be considered.”

Related Characters: Madame Allard (speaker), Isabelle Rossignol
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:

“I’m just tired of the war talk. And it’s a fact that women are useless in war. Your job is to wait for our return.”

Related Characters: Christophe (speaker), Isabelle Rossignol
Related Symbols: The Nightingale
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Something like that. But like I said, a nice girl like you wouldn’t know anything about survival.”

“You’d be surprised the things I know, Gaëtan, There is more than one kind of prison.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol (speaker), Gaëtan (speaker)
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

The smell preceded them. Human sweat and filth and body odor. As they neared, the miasma of black separated, peeled into forms. She saw people on the road and in the fields, walking, limping, coming toward her. Some were pushing bicycles or prams or dragging wagons. Dogs barked, babies cried. There was coughing, throat clearing, whining. They came forward, through the field and up the road, relentlessly moving close, pushing one another aside, their voices rising.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Rachel de Champlain, Antoine Mauriac
Page Number: 68-69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Vianne had been so helpless after Maman’s death. When Papa had sent them away, to live in this small town, beneath the cold, stern eyes of a woman who had shown the girls no love, Vianne had . . . wilted.

In another time, she might have shared with Isabelle what they had in common, how undone she’d been by Maman’s death, how Papa’s rejection had broken her heart.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Julien Rossignol
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“Don’t think about who they are. Think about who you are and what sacrifices you can live with and what will break you [. . .] Isabelle will have her crisis of faith in this, too. As will we all. I have been here before, in the Great War. I know the hardships are just beginning. You must stay strong.”

Related Characters: Mother Superior (speaker), Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Julien Rossignol, Rachel de Champlain
Related Symbols: The Nightingale
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

“You are a foolish girl. Thank God your maman did not live to see who you have become.”

Isabelle hated how deeply that hurt her. “Or you Papa,” she said. “Or you.”

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol (speaker), Julien Rossignol (speaker)
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

She felt conspicuous in her ragged, snagged brown pants and woolen coat. Her cheeks were windburned and scratched and her lips were chapped and dry. But the real changes were within. The pride of what she’d accomplished in the Pyrenees had changed her, matured her. For the first time in her life, she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol
Page Number: 285-286
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

She was wiser than she’d been before. Now she knew how fragile life and love were. Maybe she would love him for only this day, or maybe for only the next week or maybe until she was an old, old woman. Maybe he would be the love of her life . . . or her love for the duration of this war . . . or maybe he would only be her first love. All she really knew was that in this terrible, frightening world, she had stumbled into something unexpected.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol, Gaëtan
Page Number: 404
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

Vianne heard the confession that lay beneath. He was telling her his own story in the only way he could, cloaked in Isabelle’s. He was saying that he had worried about his choice to join the army in the Great War, that he had agonized over what his fighting had done to his family. He knew how changed he’d been on his return, and instead of pain drawing him closer to his children and wife, it had separated them.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Julien Rossignol
Page Number: 472
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

Don’t forget me, Isabelle thought. She wished she had the strength to say it out loud.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol (speaker), Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Gaëtan, Julien Rossignol
Page Number: 551
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Nightingale PDF

Isabelle Rossignol Quotes in The Nightingale

The The Nightingale quotes below are all either spoken by Isabelle Rossignol or refer to Isabelle Rossignol. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Morality and Impossible Choices Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator) (speaker), Isabelle Rossignol, Gaëtan, Julien Mauriac, Ari de Champlain
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Ah. Consequences,” Madame said. “Perhaps now you will see that they should be considered.”

Related Characters: Madame Allard (speaker), Isabelle Rossignol
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:

“I’m just tired of the war talk. And it’s a fact that women are useless in war. Your job is to wait for our return.”

Related Characters: Christophe (speaker), Isabelle Rossignol
Related Symbols: The Nightingale
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Something like that. But like I said, a nice girl like you wouldn’t know anything about survival.”

“You’d be surprised the things I know, Gaëtan, There is more than one kind of prison.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol (speaker), Gaëtan (speaker)
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

The smell preceded them. Human sweat and filth and body odor. As they neared, the miasma of black separated, peeled into forms. She saw people on the road and in the fields, walking, limping, coming toward her. Some were pushing bicycles or prams or dragging wagons. Dogs barked, babies cried. There was coughing, throat clearing, whining. They came forward, through the field and up the road, relentlessly moving close, pushing one another aside, their voices rising.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Rachel de Champlain, Antoine Mauriac
Page Number: 68-69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Vianne had been so helpless after Maman’s death. When Papa had sent them away, to live in this small town, beneath the cold, stern eyes of a woman who had shown the girls no love, Vianne had . . . wilted.

In another time, she might have shared with Isabelle what they had in common, how undone she’d been by Maman’s death, how Papa’s rejection had broken her heart.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Julien Rossignol
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“Don’t think about who they are. Think about who you are and what sacrifices you can live with and what will break you [. . .] Isabelle will have her crisis of faith in this, too. As will we all. I have been here before, in the Great War. I know the hardships are just beginning. You must stay strong.”

Related Characters: Mother Superior (speaker), Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Julien Rossignol, Rachel de Champlain
Related Symbols: The Nightingale
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

“You are a foolish girl. Thank God your maman did not live to see who you have become.”

Isabelle hated how deeply that hurt her. “Or you Papa,” she said. “Or you.”

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol (speaker), Julien Rossignol (speaker)
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

She felt conspicuous in her ragged, snagged brown pants and woolen coat. Her cheeks were windburned and scratched and her lips were chapped and dry. But the real changes were within. The pride of what she’d accomplished in the Pyrenees had changed her, matured her. For the first time in her life, she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol
Page Number: 285-286
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

She was wiser than she’d been before. Now she knew how fragile life and love were. Maybe she would love him for only this day, or maybe for only the next week or maybe until she was an old, old woman. Maybe he would be the love of her life . . . or her love for the duration of this war . . . or maybe he would only be her first love. All she really knew was that in this terrible, frightening world, she had stumbled into something unexpected.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol, Gaëtan
Page Number: 404
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

Vianne heard the confession that lay beneath. He was telling her his own story in the only way he could, cloaked in Isabelle’s. He was saying that he had worried about his choice to join the army in the Great War, that he had agonized over what his fighting had done to his family. He knew how changed he’d been on his return, and instead of pain drawing him closer to his children and wife, it had separated them.

Related Characters: Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Isabelle Rossignol, Julien Rossignol
Page Number: 472
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

Don’t forget me, Isabelle thought. She wished she had the strength to say it out loud.

Related Characters: Isabelle Rossignol (speaker), Vianne Mauriac (The Narrator), Gaëtan, Julien Rossignol
Page Number: 551
Explanation and Analysis: