The best book of the year. Loved the story. Loved the main character. Loved everything about this. Kristin Hannah has outdone herself this time!

thank you netgalley and st martin’s press for this advanced reader copy. i am a HUGE fan of kristin hannah. she writes stories that rip my heart out and leave me in shambles, all while fostering the feeling of hope. the women was no exception to this. i fell in love with the characters and their struggles. the chaos and pain they were put through was tangible in the writing, and it made me root for them even more. by the end, i was sobbing. my heart was broken by the terror of war, the bravery of these women, and the love that is lost. it was put back together by redemption, friendship, and love. this book was really just incredible. i can’t wait for everyone to read it.

Kristin Hannah’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 is an important story that shows the contributions of often overlooked people in a frequently forgotten conflict—females serving in the Vietnam War. The book follows Frances Grace McGrath, a 20-year-old “good girl” and new nurse at the beginning of the novel. Longing for a sense of purpose as well as recognition from her military-proud father, Frankie enlists in the army and finds herself working long, grueling, and harrowing hours in a Vietnam evacuation hospital treating soldiers injured in combat. Though she ultimately finds the job valuable and fulfilling, she struggles to find the same sense of direction and satisfaction when she returns home. In America, the war is seen as shameful and its participants are largely disregarded and silenced.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 is a well-written and well-researched piece of work that paints vivid pictures of war overseas and also delves into important subjects like post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. While it does well in depicting the struggles of Vietnam war vets, I unfortunately felt the characterization of various roles was underdeveloped and lacking. The main characters came off a bit one-dimensional and the love interests were bland or disappointing to me. Further, the Asians in the book were portrayed as unseen enemies or voiceless victims. Therefore, I personally found it difficult to connect with narrative, especially with its melodramatic, 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘺’𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘺-like twists that often required suspension of disbelief.

I do think 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 is worth reading for its eye-opening portrayal of the Vietnam War, its aftermath, and coping with trauma. It is not a perfectly written story but it can encourage valuable discussions on military service, sexism, racism, and mental health. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. My review was posted on September 3, 2023 to https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5621446033.

Kristin Hannah is my favorite author. I could not believe I was given an advanced copy of this book to read. This book rivals, The Nightingale, as my favorite book ever.
Hannah has a way of writing that makes you feel like you actually know characters - feel what they feel. I appreciate the historical details as well as the pull of the heart. No one does it better than her.
From the very first page - I was hooked
Please do yourself a favor and read this masterpiece about Frankie and the Vietnam War.

I had to let this one sit for a day after I finished it, before I could find words to describe this book and how it affected me. This was a heartbreaking and poignant book about the Vietnam War, women’s struggles for equality and acceptance in that era, failed romances, and lasting friendships. I read a lot of books, and most of the time I forget them pretty quickly. Before Goodreads, I often found myself re-reading books only to realize halfway through, “this sounds familiar”. There are a few dozen books through the years that have been different, that have stuck with me and changed me in some way. This is definitely one of those books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Women by Kristin Hannah a powerful and compelling novel. I loved The Nightingale and The Women tops even that terrific book.

All I knew about Vietnam was what I saw on the nightly news. I remember the protests and the anger that raged throughout the country. I was young, didn’t know anyone who went to Vietnam and wasn’t even sure why we were there.

The truth of what soldiers endured during the Vietnam War and the despicable way in which they were “welcomed” home are now acknowledged, and the soldiers and their sacrifices are honored in Washington D.C. None of what I read or saw about Vietnam, however, focused on the role of women nurses in combat. Until now. Until The Women.

The story Kristin Hannah tells is haunting as are the roles taken on by women nurses who were true heroes in Vietnam. The writing can be graphic and some scenes may not be for the faint of heart. I usually skip over descriptions I find hard to digest but I couldn’t do that with this book.

As the story opens, 20 year-old Frances “Frankie” McGrath is living a privileged life in Coronado California. Her parents are typical of the wealthy at that time…successful father, country club mother, idolized big brother, Finley, who was about to embark on a tour of duty in Vietnam Nam, and a socialite daughter expected to marry well, fold napkins properly and have children.

At the party in Finley’s honor his friend Rye Walsh finds Frankie perusing the Heroes Wall in her family home. She laments how only men are honored on the wall and wonders what she could do to earn a place there. Rye’s words “Women can be heroes.” stick in her mind and come back to haunt her more than once.

Frankie graduates from college earning a RN degree and goes to work in a local hospital. On an evening shift she sits by the bedside of a Vietnam vet who tried to take his life. He tells her of the nurse who helped him when he was wounded. Remembering Rye’s words that “Women can be heroes” Frankie decides she will enlist in the Navy and sign up for a tour in Vietnam. She was young and naive, her brother’s letters were filled with parties, exciting sites, camaraderie. Frankie had no idea of what lay in store for her in Vietnam.

After being rejected by both the Navy and Air Force Frankie joins the U.S. Army. Heading home to tell her parents the news she hopes will make them proud, she is stunned to find rejection from both her mother and father. In fact, her father tries to talk her into backing out but she signed on the dotted line and is committed to this new path. After finishing training camp, Frankie boards an Army plane heading to Vietnam. And, the story of The Women begins in earnest.

There is so much I’d like to write about The Women but I am not one to retell the story in a review. What I want to share is that The Women is more than a story of Vietnam. It is a coming of age story; a story of friendships that start in the operating rooms on Army bases in Vietnam and last a lifetime. It is a story of bravery and grit determination at a level beyond my comprehension.

Read how PTSD - as yet unidentified as such in this story - can destroy a veteran’s life. You may be shocked, as I was, at how Frankie's life deteriorated after returning from her tours of duty. I was stunned reading “there were no women in Vietnam” over and over, even at a VA hospital where Frankie goes for help. Alcohol and drug use incapacitated many veterans - and still does to this day. You will experience it viscerally, though, in The Women.

Throughout it all, Frankie is supported, loved and “saved” more than once by her “hooch” mates, Ethel and Barb. These three women represented the estimated 10,000 thousand women who served in Vietnam in a number of positions, mostly as Army, Navy and Air Force nurses. They WERE there and they WERE heroes.

Please read the Author’s Notes at the conclusion. Kristin Hannah spent years wanting to write this story but waited until she knew she was ready to do so. Her research is impeccable and impressive. Her closing comments moved me “Talking to these remarkable women, listening to their stories, and reading their firsthand accounts of both being in Vietnam during the war and their treatment upon coming home to the United States has been a revelation. Many of the women keenly remembered being told often that there “were no women in Vietnam.” I am honored to tell this story”.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an Egalley download of The Women in exchange for my honest review. My only regret is that I can only give The Women five stars when it deserves so many more.

Mark your calendar for Feb. 2024 and preorder The Women now. Kristin Hannah shows us how friendship, love, grief, and fear binds us to each other. We follow Frankie McGrath as she leaves her privileged, sheltered upbringing on Coronado to Be a hero in the Army Nurses Corp. She grows up quickly as she lands in Vietnam-- she challenges herself to become the best nurse in the most difficult circumstances. We share in her love, grief, stress, and moments of joy in war torn Vietnam. But Frankie must face more fears, prejudice, and challenges when she comes home-- family, friends, and the community are not ready for her. She must navigate hardship all over again on home soil as even the military does not recognize that women served. Kristin Hannah reminds us once again that through love, life, grief, and change it is our friends who sustain us. Thank you Kristin Hannah, Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the egalley. It's on my book club's list for February as it should be on every female (and male's) list!

The Women by Kristin Hannah tells the story of Frankie McGrath who in 1965 is a protected young woman who signs up to serve as an army nurse in Vietnam. The Women follows Frankie through her time in Vietnam and then through her return home. This is a story that needed to be told by a popular author like Hannah as many have no idea the challenges faced by the women who served and what happened upon their return. As I read it I thought it was a solid read, but then the final chapters elevated it to another level and truly brought the heart to the story. I appreciated that the notes at the end referenced some excellent non-fiction books highlighting the women who served including one of my all-time favorite books: Home Before Morning by Lynda Van DeVanter.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy of The Women by Kristin Hannah.
Once again Kristin Hannah has written a book that immerses the reader into the world of her character. Frankie is a young idealistic woman who joins the Army to go to Vietnam with her brother. She is in over her head but steps up to become a hero. She brings the war home with her, and struggles while those who love her try to support her.
A book that can bring me to tears is a book that is worth reading. I liked how Kristin Hannah crafts her plot and characters, creating a book that I couldn’t put down. She puts in the music, the events, and the people of the time to create a realistic setting. This book stayed with me long after I read the last page.
#TheWomen#KristinHannah

Wow this book was my favorite read of the year . I learned so much, I talked about it
At dinner with my husband and it gave me such a different perspective on life. So amazing and one of the best books I’ve ever read. Such an interesting viewpoint of vietnam, I am a nurse myself and reading this from Frances’ point of view was inspiring and heartbreaking

I really wish I could write a more in depth review for The Women but this book was so powerful, I can’t do it justice. Being Canadian, I had a vague idea ( as did a lot of Americans) of how the war in Viet Nam affected those fighting it. Yes, I did read the papers and I did wonder how a government could keep sending its young people off to die in a senseless war. But the scope didn’t sink in until I read this book.
Kristin Hannah writes this story, beginning in the mid sixties, in a time when women weren’t supposed to be going to war. Of course, they were needed as nurses on the front lines but were never acknowledged as even being there. If not for the thousands of soldiers that survived because of them, they would’ve gone unnoticed.
I’ll stop here. I shed a lot of tears throughout this book. The war, the friendships, the love, Frankie’s parents, etc.; an emotional roller coaster ride.
I give this book 10 out of 5! It’s been a while since a story grabbed me so thoroughly and this one did just that. Please read The Women. It’s an education in trauma, PTSD, medicine and the dedication of the women (and men) who fought for their country.

Thank you first and foremost to Kristin Hannah for taking me on this journey I’ll not soon forget.
And thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for my digital ARC and the opportunity to read this incredible book.

5 easy stars for this one. Kristin Hannah does it again! This book needs to be read by everyone and especially for anyone who knows anyone who has served in any armed forces or has themselves served. This is one of the most powerful accounts of war that I have read. This book centers on the Vietnam War which is so different than WWI and WWII. It is a war that American should never have been in and is so reflected in this incredibly written novel. But PTSD and feelings of loneliness, fear, suicide and unworthiness is probably reflective of all wars.

Frances McGrath signs up to serve as a nurse in the Army and she while she wasn't in "combat" as is said so many times in the book, she was for all intents and purposes in combat - combatting the horrible atrocities of war, the deaths, the burns, the innocent loss of lives. And then she goes home to an America where protests are happening and spitting on veterans become common. How can she assimilate back into "the real world?"

This account of the Vietnam War will remain with me long after I am done reading the book. The research that Kristin Hannah does before and while writing her novels is so in depth. She says she has been wanting to write a book about Vietnam since 1997 - that's a long time to have this book in her head and I am so thankful it is now down on paper.

Such a powerful book that filled me with every single emotion.

Thank you so much to the Kristin Hannah, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The Women tells the story of Francis McGrath and her years of service as an Army Nurse during the Vietnam War. This book was sometimes hard to read and I more than once had tears, but the story was so riveting that I had a hard time putting it down. The amount of detail that Kristin Hannah put into this novel made me feel like I was in Vietnam with Francis and the rest of the nurses and doctors. The Women tells the story of not only a war but also the times of great change in the US.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Kristin Hannah is an auto-author for me. This is definitely in my top favorites of hers. I am so glad she is writing historical fiction lately because she is excelling! This whole book was a rollercoaster of my emotions. Just when you think you can breathe, bam something else happens literally up until the ending. Just wow. I enjoyed reading this book that follows a nurse in the Vietnam War and what happened after.

“𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘰𝘰.”

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥-𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴.”

“𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.”

Oh my godddd this book crushed my heart and soul.

The first half details Frankie’s life as a nurse in the Vietnam war. The second half details Frankie’s return home, how she struggles and how she’s treated.

In true KH fashion, this is such a beautifully written book. You can tell she took the time to really research the topic so she could present it as accurately as possible. I can’t say I knew much about the Vietnam war before reading this but she really seemed to showcase so many sides of it. It’s absolutely disgusting how the vets were treated when they returned from war.

This book was nothing short of amazing and I cannot recommend it enough. The ending!! 😭 😭 All the stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC!

Wow, what a book! This is the kind of book that changes you. Reading about the women of Vietnam by an author as gifted a storyteller as Kristin Hannah feels like a gift and an education all at the same time. When I say I read this book, it’s just a surface way to describe how I consumed and INHABITED this book! It’s a rare book that can make you feel and experience something like you were living it yourself. I was deeply moved and I will never forget what I read.

There WERE women serving in Vietnam though we only hear of the men. They were primarily combat nurses and this is Frankie’s story in country. She endures and witnesses unspeakable horrors in a brutal on the job training as soldiers with horrific wounds pour in daily to their makeshift hospital while shells rains down overhead. TRIGGER WARNING if you are squeamish! Hannah doesn’t skimp on the details! Frankie’s experiences fundamentally change her for better and for worse.

When she comes home traumatized and grateful to be alive, Frankie gets the welcome most soldiers got back then, derision and scorn. But doubly so as a woman, since most people she encounters, even at the VA, don’t believe she was there or that her experiences were valid since she wasn’t in combat. She’s told to forget. Lie. Move on. Let it go.

How to move on from such a radical experience that has left you stronger than most and also internally and forever scarred? Frankie is lost and trying desperately to find her way turning to everything from drugs, booze and sex to volunteering and protesting the war. Through dedicated friends and a family that somehow persists in love, Frankie keeps working to somehow build a life after Vietnam.

You’ve got to read this book to understand her emotional journey. It’s beautifully and starkly told. You’ll cringe, you’ll cry, you’ll internally scream at several of the twists and turns of plot and character. And that is what good storytelling does, it snatches you up in one place and sets you down in another, blinking at the light and wondering how you read until 4 am. I’ll forever be recommending this book!

*I was graciously provided an ARC of this book by St. Martin’s Press on exchange for my honest review.

This book felt sweepingly epic and intimate at the same time. I was completely sucked in and emotionally invested the whole time. I learned so much about a time in our country’s history when social and political unrest caused so much pain and suffering because of and in addition to fighting a losing war. Frankie showed us every side of her experience as an Army Nurse, both during her tour and after returning home, in a raw and honest way. Add this book to your TBR!

The Women by Kristin Hannah is a historical novel about military nurses who served in Vietnam. The story centers on Frankie, a young, sheltered, inexperienced nurse who impulsively joins the army to follow her brother to serve in Vietnam. It details her experiences treating patients in perilous conditions during the war, making friends and love interests along the way, and her experiences living as a veteran after serving.

The Women is a stunningly executed atmospheric novel to the point where I felt like a bomb would drop on me any second while reading it. The war scenes are very intense and graphic, much like I imagine serving in war to be. This intensity and dedication of the nurses juxtaposed with what happened when they came home from war shocked me to the core. I think it was such a wise choice for Hannah to focus half the book on experiences of female veterans after their service as this the part that surprised me the most and will stick with me the longest.

While I enjoyed that Hannah strongly stresses the importance of female friendships throughout the novel, I felt Frankie’s friends could have been a bit better developed as characters. Also, like many of Hannah’s novels, The Women is an emotional roller coaster that I had to step away from at times to recharge. Frankie goes through a wide spectrum of hardships throughout the novel, while probably very true to what military nurses went through, were brutal to read after awhile.

Overall, I feel The Women is a very important book detailing experiences of the women who served in Vietnam that need the exposure that a popular author like Kristin Hannah will give them. I truly appreciate that Hannah has used her platform to bring awareness to these women and the experiences of military personnel during the Vietnam War, taking on a book that I imagine was difficult to write. It made me realize how few books there are set during the Vietnam war while there are so many - perhaps too many - set during other wars. That is something I will contemplate for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty year old Frankie McGrath cannot wait to join the armed services as a nurse. Her brother just left to serve in the Vietnam War- why can't she serve too? She sees herself as someone who could have a spot in the framed pictures of war heroes on her father's study's wall. She joined the Army Nursing Corps. But she was very young and naive. Her service matures her and even traumatizes her.
When she returns home, she finds that no, she is not acknowledged as a hero in a country that has changed while she was gone.
The Women is for all women who have sacrificed for their country.
This story is beautiful and will keep you reading to the last page. It is well written and I think it would make an interesting movie. If you like historical fiction, this is a must read.

The Women
Publication date February 2024

The short and sweet of my review is that this is my favorite Kristin Hannah book.

Yes, there were American women in Vietnam during the fighting; American women fighting for their country as nurses in Vietnam.

I lived through the waiting period of that era with “our boys” as my classmates waited to see when their draft number would be called. I heard of local funerals for boys from my hometown. I met and married a young man who luckily was just a little bit older than me and had already served his country. We worked to build our life together, watched the news each night, and became more and more convinced that we should bring our boys home, but not once do I remember thinking about the women over there. Not once, and I’m sorry.

The strong female characters in The Women are smart, vulnerable, wise-cracking ladies I would love to call my friends. They dodge bullets, run from incoming mortar shells, and run to incoming wounded. They slosh around in rivers of blood and hold the hands of dying young men.

They then find a place where they can scream and cry and renew their strength to do it all over again. They find solace with each other and with the soldiers within their theatre of existence.

The great tragedy, however, is the treatment the women received upon their return to the states. We know of the abuse and mistreatment directed to our soldiers, but how many of us have considered the return of the women?

Kristen Hannah has and she portrays the ugliness of it beautifully. In ways I would never have considered the women were told to forget about it, pretend it never happened, and get on with womanly things. Our main character is the perfect vessel to show us the injustices the women who went to Vietnam endured.

Yes, there were women in Vietnam. Our women. Our sisters.

Thank you Kristen Hannah for this much needed education so agonizingly beautifully presented.

Thank you to St Martins Press for gifting me this early. All opinions and thoughts as always are my own.