4.5⭐️

The 60’s was an era of massive change for women, hot on the end of WW2 women realised they were capable of doing the same jobs as men, better birth control gave women more choices and freedom. Women in the 1960’s were trailblazers for modern women.

In 1965 at the time of the Vietnam war Frances “Frankie” born into money and privilege impetuously follows her brother to war in the army nurse corps.

It was a politically unpopular war, and the veterans garnered little support on their return from serving their Country, it was tough reading about the struggle back in the world.

As always the author puts you through an emotional wringer, and it’s not long before you feel its effects. It’s harrowing, at times a soul destroying read. All that loss, pain and suffering. It broke me.

I found it a book of two halves, the first half of the book with the Vietnam experience much more riveting, the following section didn’t grab me in the same way, although it’s a very important aspect of the war, that still impacted on me. It ends really strongly and emotionally, I was in tears.

Quote from the book “She joined the ANC to find her brother, and found herself instead”

Kristin Hannah has another impressive book in her repertoire. I’m sure fans of her books will love it.
It’s one I’d recommend for people who live character driven stories and or recent history.

This may replace The NIghtingale as my favorite Hannah novel.  The Women takes us to the Vietnam War which is a new backdrop since most novels seem to focus on WWII (so I appreciated a new backdrop).  Frankie McGrath, a young wealthy nursing student, enlists for Vietnam to follow her brother and fulfil her family's code of service (which, until now, had only been for men).
While in Vietnam Frankie learns, sees and smells more than she ever realized existed in the world outside her sheltered life.  She falls in love, grieves, learns more nursing (and medicine) than she ever would have at home and forges friendships deeper than she had ever had before.
The novel then covers the re-entry of vets from Vietnam which was often painful and not always smooth.  America was not always kind to the vets since the war wasn't popular at home and the women who served were all but ignored.  Hannah really played with the theme of women being valued in one place and time (as Frankie had performed medical procedures in Vietnam) and then completely devalued once society didn't need her anymore (once she was a regular nurse again at home).  This theme comes up over and over again in wartime female characters - once the war is over after women have risked their lives or had a taste of freedom being working women (like Rosie the Riveter) - they are expected to go back to how it was, being wives and mothers.
I loved this book, like LOVED this book.  I inhaled it.  I think Hannah does a great job of keeping the medical stuff not too gory but appropriately so.  The friendships were written beautifully.  Hannah's stories have a comforting predictability (and I don't say that badly) - she makes what you want to happen in the story happen, but in her way and not exactly how you think.  This is a top 10 read for me and I think everyone will be reading this when it comes out in February (and I'm so sorry people will have to wait until then to read it).  Grab it when it comes out!!

This is a 4.75 star read for me (which I will raise to 5 star for purposes here)

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book

This book was great. As Kristin Hannah does so well, she crafted a historical fiction novel that is both full of detail and is also compelling. I did not want to put this book down. Frankie was the perfect main character to follow on this journey of love, loss, friendship and survival.

While I am still thinking about this one after finishing it, and have gone back and reread a few passages I couldn’t stop thinking about, I wanted more as well. Maybe it’s the romance reader in me, but I was so invested in Frankie’s journey the ending felt rushed to me. I wanted to see more about how Frankie’s life played out, I wanted to see a HEA.

This would make an excellent book club book because there is so much to discuss.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down!! I got slightly long in a few parts, but for the most part I thought it was amazing. I'll definitely recommending it to people!

Mark my words. THE WOMEN will be THE book of 2023! I LOVED it. Let me tell you 10 reasons why!

1. The time period. 1965, Vietnam War. Why do I feel like this era is so underwritten? Because so many Americans were against the war??

2. Our main character, 20 year old Frankie. Fresh out of nursing school she joins the Army Nurse Corps to serve in Vietnam. What a woman!

3. The friendships. Us gals can really love and help and uplift one another through turbulent times. Hannah really shines on this brightly!

4. The job. As an Army nurse, Frankie saw a lot. Hannah handles what could be quite graphic with care, but also emphasizes the awfulness of wartime injuries.

5. The romantic relationships. I loved this part! I was rooting for Frankie!! No more to say without spoilers!

6. The emotional toil. Let me tell you all the places I teared up while reading: the copy center, the paint store, the dr. office, my car, the hotel, the beach, my house, Sheesh! She sure knows how to get the reader EMOTIONALLY invested. All of this said...I was here for it and didn't get too mad!!

7. The women! Sharing women's stories and voices in a heavily male voiced world was refreshing to my heart as a woman. Thank you Kristin! Women have done hard things in the past and so can I.

8. The length was perfect. Not too long, not too short.

9. The topics. Many topics were covered in this book beyond the Vietnam war. This may be my one qualm with perhaps one too many in attempt to cover all of them, but I really enjoyed thinking about all she referenced.

10. The personal connection Kristin Hannah has to the story. In her Acknowledgments she shares an item she received as a child that she interjects in the story and it made me tear up all over again, on the very last page!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance e-copy of this book.

Let me start by saying: thank goodness Kristin Hannah knows how to write about history, because I sure as heck hated my history classes growing up. She did it again…. She wrote an incredible historical fiction novel. She did the research and made it amazing.

I always wonder how authors come up with their stories, and in her authors note she explained how she was a child during the Vietnam war and has memories of that time. The idea behind this book came to her 26 years ago, but she knew she was a young author and wanted to make sure she did this topic justice. How wild!!

This book follows Frankie McGrath on her journey as a nurse in Vietnam during the war. Not only was she responsible for treating American soldiers, but also Vietnamese soldiers. When she arrives home from war, she has to navigate the turmoil her time serving took on her.

Her two friends she met in Vietnam, Barb and Ethel, are there for her every step of the way - they are the only ones who seem to relate to everything that happened considering “women weren’t in ‘Nam.”

I loved reading this story. Though it took me a long time to get through it due to my busy schedule, I was super engaged the whole time and really wanting to squeeze one chapter in regardless of how tired I was!

This releases February 6, 2024. Thank you netgalley / Kristin Hannah / st. Martins press for the eARC of this one!!! I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it!!

A powerful novel by one of my favorite authors. This book is a deep history lesson for those of us born after Vietnam. I'm sure a powerful emotional journey for those who lived through these times. Hard to put down and compelling. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a digital advanced copy to review.

“The Women” made me feel so many emotions. I loved the main character, the female friendships, the settings, and the feminist views. I am still thinking about this book.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127305853

This is an amazing book! It begins with Frankie, a wealthy socialite who decides to follow her brother to Vietnam. As a nurse, her tale unfolds through the war- in Vietnam and in the states after her return. Told with emotion and honesty we learn of the struggles after the war and the value of friends.

Where do I even start? Kristin Hannah writes books that draw you in and keep you so invested, you're left wanting even more. I loved The Women so much, I sat for hours researching the war and the women who really were there (though they always claimed there were no women in Vietnam). Thank you Ms. Hannah for another amazing read!

I love me some Kristin Hannah and although this was good, it wasn’t one of my favorites by her. I loved the characters and the setting but the storyline just made me want so much more for Frankie.

The Women is a phenomenal and my favorite read this year. The book is a historically accurate, brutally honest look at how America treated the men and women of the Vietnam War; the turbulent and transformative era in 1960s America.
I was pulled in initially and didn’t want to put the book down. The auditory and visual descriptions of Vietnam’s landscape and weather, chaos, destruction, sounds of trauma and the war, the fashion, and the music, will transport readers back to the late 1960s through the early 1980s. While this era is familiar, Hannah sheds light on the women of the war; the brave and forgotten nurses.
This story will make you cry. Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s life will grip you and tear at your heartstrings as you connect with her fears, pain, heartbreaks, anger, and frustrations. The readers follow Frankie through her two tours, where she bonds with her hooch mates, Ethel and Barb, where she is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Frankie returns home to the unexpected trauma of America’s divided political views on the war and without acceptance from her parents. She cannot connect with the “real” world and struggles with PTSD, depression, alcoholism, and betrayal before finding her next role in life. Frankie juggles reconnecting, fitting in, and getting her parent’s approval.
The novel is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose courage under fire defines a generation. Women have been overlooked throughout history and want to be acknowledged. The women nurses of Vietnam put themselves in harm’s way to help others; they made sacrifices for their country and then forgotten. Women are heroes, too. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of The Women by Kristin Hannah.

This is one heck of a journey back to the 60's and early 70's when peace lovers and flower children were rebelling against the Vietnam War. People (myself included) wore POW bracelets without really knowing or understanding why. The war was in full force and people were maimed and dying!
Frankie is a young woman who after becoming a nurse, decides to join the Army to "help" and to be with her brother who is there.
What she experiences is nothing short of terrifying and yet she and others lived it!
The intense challenges, horrors and heartbreak are only skimming the surface of what this young lady and others witnessed!
But... nothing prepares her or others upon returning home to the disgust, neglect, nightmares and pain as they attempt to share their terrors and yet return to life as a civilian! YES- They were there!
Nobody cares!

This is a book I could not stop reading and yet had to halt so many times! It is very emotional.
It truly gave me insight on this battle that these women went through and their feelings!
I highly recommend this novel! Kristin Hannah has written an amazing novel that I would like to give 100 stars to!
Thank you to @NetGalley and to @St. Martin's Press for this ARC and allowing me to read and provide my own review!

Wow... it's not easy to get a 5 star out of me. This book was incredible, I didn't want to put it down. So well written. I had high expectations and this story didn't disappoint. I'm sure it will eventually be made into a movie or series. Excellent.

I have loved all I have read from this author and this book didn’t disappoint. It’s an important story to read as it’s rare to see tales of women in war. It’s a heartfelt must-read.

Another fantastic book by Kristin Hannah
I haven’t read much about the Vietnam War.. but, I was born in ‘58 and as a young girl I remember seeing the horrific video and images on the nightly news and.. fortunately for me.. I only knew of one older cousin who got drafted to go to war.
Most everything we saw before, during, and after the war was about the men who were there.. of course it was the men who saw combat.. but women were there too… the nurses trying to patch up mutilated bodies, being alongside the dying as they took their last breaths..the women also endured a lot!
This is the story of the WOMEN… a few of them.. mostly about a young girl Frankie, who after her brother enlisted.. she followed him and was a war nurse in the Army.
I loved the story, mostly the first half that took place in Vietnam during wartime.
So much about this story took me back to those days.. the riots, the political landscape, the war protests, the mention of certain songs.
Wonderful!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!

Everything I expect from Kristin Hannah. It was beautifully written! The friendships in the story were the best part! It absolutely told a full circle story, but I’d love to see where else it could go! I feel like Frankie has her whole life ahead of her and will get everything she ever wished for. I cried and laughed and ended on such a few good moment.

Let me start by saying that I think this is a really important story, and Kristin Hannah is a masterful writer. I did like the overall ending of the story (minus one element), but that’s about where my praise ends. Forgive me if this becomes an incoherent rant.

It all begins with Frankie, the blandest and most exhausting of protagonists. From the start, she has no personality, and even after reading 400+ pages, I still felt like I only knew surface level things about her. It felt like so much of her story was wrapped up around the men in her life (her father, Finley, Jamie, Rye, Henry), when the focus should have been THE WOMEN.

Why was every man that met her in love with her?! I hated this aspect of the story. I’m sure Vietnam was very lonely for those serving, but come on. It was too much.

I think Jamie would have worked a lot better as a brother type figure. I absolutely did not feel any chemistry between them, and I would have cared much more about his “death” if he had been more of a mentor to Frankie. (And if I wasn’t icked out by his willingness to cheat on his wife.)

I felt very weird about Henry, her ex-fiancé, being part of her treatment team in rehab, even though he wasn’t her primary doctor. I think in today’s world, this would be seen as unethical.

The song “Time in a Bottle” is referenced like 4 times, and I feel like this is just lazy, unless there is some underlying metaphor that is going over my head.

The ending (as in the last 5 or so pages) did NOT need to happen. Not only do we have two presumedly dead characters suddenly not actually be dead, but Jamie is conveniently divorced? With a daughter her named Frances? I hate it.

I will round out this review by saying that I appreciate the light this book shines on the addiction and homelessness that plagues so many veterans, due to the government’s lack of caring. It’s disgusting, and it’s sad that this is still the case in 2023.

What an amazing book! I am so glad that Kristin Hannah has taken on this really important subject, as so many of the women who served in Vietnam never got the recognition they deserved. Just like all her other books, this one is beautifully written and has excellent character development.
I am grateful for the chance to read it early, and I look forward to recommending it to our patrons!

Big thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

Kristin Hannah has a gift. The Women, like every other Kristin Hannah book I've had the pleasure of reading, is all-consuming. It is a total and complete escape into another time. The characters, especially our heroine, are fully formed and easy to connect with. I learned a lot and felt even more. I will be recommending this title with reckless abandon!

5 Stars.