In the end, there's only one thing you can believe. Bodies are honest; they don't lie.

You learned to run from what you feel, and that's why you have nightmares. To deny is to invite madness. To accept is to control.

Coming up with the idea is the worst part of writing for me.

It felt like an oversight to me, something that needed to be corrected. They [women who hid Jewish children] deserved to be understood and remembered.

With The Nightingale, I had been kicking the idea around for years. I was frightened to write it because on the surface it seems so different for me.

The woman who led [downed airmen] was named Andrée De Jongh and her story - one of heroism and peril and astounding courage - became the inspiration for my novel.

I have to admit that WWII France was not at all on my radar for Kristin Hannah.