Naive debutante,Frankie McGrath, a recent nursing graduate, impulsively decides to follow her naval officer brother to Vietnam, as a nurse. She longs to make her parents proud of her. When she arrives on base, she realizes how woefully unprepared she is for combat nursing, both technically and emotionally. Her fellow nurses and doctors support her and train her to be a competent nurse, as well as an independent woman. When she returns stateside, she finds protesters against the war, as well as disdain for Vietnam veterans. Her parents and friends seem to be embarrassed by her service. As Frankie is fighting to heal her emotional scars, she must forge a new life for herself. Her journey to recover from her trauma is emotionally harrowing for the reader, as well.
Thank you, Ms Hannah for helping me come to terms with becoming an adult in this era. I was a college student during the war protests. I was a Naval wife during the height of the war. You have aptly depicted this turbulent time in my generation’s history. This was a painful read for me, but it was cathartic as well.

Gut-wreching (in a good way), fascinating, and powerful--typical Kristin Hannah historical fiction. Telling the tale of young, female nurses in the Vietnam war, and the aftermath of them returning home. This was so good. One of my top reads of the year.

This was beautiful and heartbreaking- I am convinced it’s as good as The Nightingale, Kristen Hannah’s best book in my opinion.
The topic? The Vietnam war, especially the women who served in it.
I was sucked in by the main character Frankie, and I could see myself in her at the beginning of the novel. The first third is about her experience as a combat nurse in Vietnam and the last two thirds about her experience, similar to many other Americans, returning to the United States villainized due to her service.
There were so many things I didn’t know before- Vietnam is not the most popular topic for historical fiction- and I feel as if I learned so much. I’m already telling everyone to read this book.

The Women
Kristin Hannah
February 06, 2024

We begin this incredible journey in San Diego, California in a gated home on Coronado Island. Today is another major celebration at the McGrath home. Connor and Elizabeth are having a party for their son, Finley who is set to join the Navy. He knows that Vietnam will be his destination after training. His sister, Francis fears this more than ever. She and her brother were best friends. Just his being gone will be difficult but knowing what the troops are trying to survive, worse.
This incredible history lesson by Kristin Hannah tells the story of an era as well as the characters she creates to tell her narrative.
The Women will be published by St. Martin’s Publishing Group on February 07, 2024. I was able to read Hannah’s ARC via NetGalley. I give my hearted appreciation to St. Martin’s. For those readers who remember 1960-1975 as I do well, this era was a tough one. Those in the states could only read what the government gave us about the Vietnam war. Those in-country found a perilous world of survival. I remember it well, my guy left when he was 20, I never saw him again. His letters never brought the fear he knew each day.This book needs to be read. It gives us war and what horror it brings not just to the young men but women, children and the aging. Kristin Hannah has once again brought us a stunning installment to an era that should never be forgotten.

This was my first Kristin Hannah book, and apparently I have been living under a rock.

This book tells the heartbreaking story of Frankie and her friends who were combat nurses through the Vietnam War. The book follows them through war time and after their return home.

Frankie's character felt so real to me. How she was treated upon her return home was just as heartbreaking as the horrors she faced while serving in Vietnam. On top of returning to no one supporting the war, the soldiers or their service, Frankie had the addition of everyone claiming there "were no women in Vietnam" and the VA refusing to help her.

How much pain and sorrow can one woman face without breaking? Because Frankie saw it all. My heart broke for her over and over again.

At it's heart, the book is about overcoming hardship, friendship and family.

Kristen Hannah has done it again. The Women is a heartfelt story of the women who served in the Vietnam War at a time where the country denied their service and treated them with dishonor. The first half of the book tells of the intense scenes of the medical camps in Vietnam and the second half portrayed the struggles of the nation and these women trying to move on with their lives. The main character, Frankie, is real, strong, and flawed. She grapples with generational trauma, PTSD, addiction, and grief all before she turns 29 years old. I was born in the 60s, and my father was in the Air Force in the war. Since I was so young during this era, I don’t remember first hand events described other than what I learned from history books, but this story seemed to bring my parent’s experiences to life. I was shocked and cried and laughed. The references to the music of the era only strengthened the story and brought meaning to the way society felt during this time. My father never talks about his time in Vietnam and after reading Frankie’s story, I can completely understand why. War is horrible in everyone’s eyes, but to give yourself, your life, for a country and war that wasn’t supposed to happen only makes the experience more heart wrenching and sad.

Thank you Kristen Hannah for creating this book to bring a new light on the women who “never were in Vietnam”. Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the advanced audiobook.

Finally, if you can listen to this story on audio, I highly recommend it. Julia Whalen is the narrator and she is the queen of audiobooks. 5 stars is just not enough.

The Women by comes out on February 6, 2024 and is NOT one to miss!!

The Women is about nurses, one particular Frankie, who served in the Vietnam War. The book explores women in the war and also the aftermath of effects of war on all aspects of life. Frankie is a beautifully flawed character who experiences so much over the course of this book. I loved her two other nurse friends and how they supported and loved each other. I started crying while reading this book about a quarter of the way through it and then proceeded to cry multiple times. I ugly cried at the end because oh my goodness so many emotions. I enjoyed learning more about Vietnam from this book. I haven’t ever read a historical fiction one about Vietnam before. Pack your tissues for this read!

Wow. What an emotionally raw, sad, but important story. This is going on my list as one of the best books I’ve read. Everyone should read this not only to read a story that will have you hooked from the beginning , but also to learn about the Vietnam War and the ways that so many veterans, men and women, were forgotten.

Thank you to Net Galley for this advance e-copy of The Women by Kristin Hannah.This is just a wonderful and powerful book on so many levels giving a voice to the women who served in Vietnam who for so long we’re ignored and forgotten.This is the story of Frances McGrath or Frankie who joins the war effort as an Army nurse.after her brother is killed there.While there she meets two other nurses Barb and Ethel who will help save her many times over the years.Faced with horrific conditions and unbearable tragedy including the loss of two men she loved, Frankie arrives home stateside broken and haunted.Frankie must find herself even though her parents are unwilling to talk about the war that claimed their son’s life.Frankie experiences many traumas and betrayals during her post war years but it is only when she hits rock bottom that she finds her true purpose.This book will stay with you for a long time after you read it. Wonderfully written and researched.Highly recommend.

Thank you to author, NetGalley, and publisher for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WOW! Is all I can say about this book! Kristin Hannah is an auto read/buy for me because She. Does. Not. Disappoint! The story was raw, touching, and the twist/turns throughout was insane. Just loved this book, 10/10!

Kristin Hannah writes books that emotionally wreck me, yet leave me wanting more and leave me recommending the book to others, as is the case with The Women.

The Women centers on Army nurses in Vietnam, the struggles they faced while in country, both due to conditions and due to their gender, but just as much, on their struggles when they return home. Hannah’s description of the political and social upheaval that the US was undergoing in the late 60s and early 70s is a reminder that our country is always experiencing change that is very painful. And her description of what female Vietnam veterans faced both in war as well as after, was heartbreaking…these women started to break the ceiling for women that serve today and want to serve in the future. I say repeatedly how grateful I am to know many female veterans now, and how I love that they set the example for my girls that there is nothing that they can not do in today’s Army. All of this boils down to me binging this book, getting floored, thinking I could predict each plot twist, failing and continuing my reading…only to be surprised (with tear filled eyes) at the end.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

“Some women had worn love beads in the sixties; others had worn dog tags.”

In May of 1966, Frances “Frankie” McGrath is an idealistic twenty year old girl from a well-off family on Coronado Island, CA. Her father (though he himself has never served in the military) raised her and her brother Finley with tales of the heroism of McGrath men through the years; he even has a “wall of heroes” in his office, with pictures of McGrath men who had proven their bravery through military service. Fin has graduated from the Naval Academy and is about to begin his service in Vietnam. Frankie is training to be a nurse, one of the three “acceptable” professions for women, and it is expected that she will follow in the mold of other girls with whom she grew up and went to the local Catholic girls’ school. She will get married and have a family, live close to her parents, and likely continue to pursue the country club lifestyle in which she was raised. Then one of her brother’s fellow academy graduates, Rye Walsh, says something to her one night that will affect the trajectory of her life. When he notices that the only photos in which women are featured on the heroes wall are wedding photos, he asks why….women, he says, can be heroes too. When Frankie finishes nursing school, she decides to enlist and use her nursing skills in the military. With little practical experience, neither the Air Force nor the Navy will accept her, but the Army will. When she returns home and tells her parents the news, they are not proud and happy, as she had expected them to be….they are angry. When the doorbell rings and they receive the news that Finley is presumed dead, Frankie and her parents are devastated, and the parents only more opposed to her choice. It is too late for Frankie to back out, not that she wants to do so. But once she arrives in Vietnam, things are so different from what she expected. Living conditions are rough, the evac hospital where she is stationed is regularly inundated with soldiers and civilians in horrible shape, and it is not uncommon to come under enemy fire even as she and the rest of the medical team work to save lives. Frankie may have originally joined the Army to find and serve alongside her brother, but she will find herself instead. She will form strong friendships with Ethel and Barb, nurses with whom she serves, and will experience love, loss and betrayal…and going home will be even harder.
While i have always been aware that the returning veterans during the Vietnam War were treated badly upon their return, and that many suffered (and are still suffering) both physically ad mentally from the horrors which they had witnessed, I was not aware that the women who had served were even worse off in many ways. In addition to enduring the scorn and anger from people directed to all who had served there, women were also virtually ignored by the VA. They were told that women didn’t serve in VIetnam, and that the men who served in combat wouldn’t want them around during “rap sessions” etc. Knowing that now, it is not surprising to hear that women who were in fact there came home with the same troubles that the men did….PTSD, addictions to alcohol or drugs, and difficulty fitting back into the worlds they had left….yet had little to no support when they needed it. Through Frankie’s eyes, the reader gets to see the camaraderie that was born under difficult circumstances between people from different backgrounds as well as the horrors of war….the good and the bad. Frankie’s eventual departure from Vietnam is not the end of the danger, however, and that is perhaps the most heartbreaking part of the novel (as it was in fact for so many of the men and women who served our country there, and have served in other places since). Readers of Kristin Hannah’s previous works will almost certainly pick up a copy of The Women (and they should); I would also recommend it to readers of authors of historical fiction like Anita Shreve, Chris Bohjalian and Jane Hamilton. Thank you to Ms Hannah for honoring the women whose service in Vietnam is not well-known, and to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me access to an advanced copy of The Women….I couldn’t put it down. Have some tissues at the ready.

Kristin Hannah’s latest, The Women, is heartbreaking, absorbing and detailed. Her characters, especially main character Frances (Frankie), are dynamic and flawed. I loved how Hannah focused not only on the horrors of the Vietnam war, but also how Frankie’s experience and service changed her, and other veterans, forever. Add this to your TBR now! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital arc of this novel that releases February 6th.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was immediately drawn into The Women, as one is when starting a Kristin Hannah book. I thought about the story and characters when I wasn’t reading and was completely transported when I was reading.

The Women is a powerful and needed work of literature. Though addressing some really hard things, both to read and process, it is a timely testament to the importance of friendship, love, mental health, perseverance, grace, and recognizing all we’ve lost and still have.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a review copy of this book. I was not required to leave a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Outstanding!! As expected, this is another well-researched historical fiction by Kristin Hannah. "The Women" is an amazing story highlighting the service of women in the Vietnam War.

Frankie (Frances) McGrath is a newly-minted RN from an upper-class California family when she volunteers to serve with the Army in Vietnam. The first half of the story details the highs and lows of her two tours of duty as a nurse working in Evac hospitals. Much of the detail in this section is not for the faint of heart - there's a lot of blood and gore described. As she serves, Frankie also makes 2 close female friends and experiences varied relationships with men who wish to love her.

The second half of the story covers what Frankie (and others) experienced upon returning home from war. They were not welcomed home nor recognized for their service; instead they were spat upon and treated as low-lifes. Many times, Frankie's status as a veteran was not believed or recognized by Americans, as many believed the lie that no women served in Vietnam. Frankie struggles when her family does not recognize her heroic service to her country and the war effort.

In the decade that follows, Frankie ultimately finds a way to become whole again.

Highly recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of "The Women" in exchange for an honest review.

In true Kristin Hannah fashion this will emotionally destroy you. The Women is such a powerful and important story. The women of the Vietnam war is such a huge topic to cover and Kristin does it brilliantly. She covers such a difficult topic in our country’s history that will leave you wanting to know more. Frankie’s story is one that will stick with you for a long time. May we learn from our history and always support our veterans. Definitely a book you wish you could read again for the first time.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this powerful novel.

This book...this book...it is wonderful and awful and thought provoking and something everyone should read.

I was a young teen during the time period at the beginning of this book.. I LIVED the memories that Ms. Hannah talks about through her character, Frankie McGrath. I remember some of them fondly. I wondered why we were fighting a war and why. I remember riots and protests and feeling unable to really wrap my head around what was happening to my country. Mostly I just went to school and watched it happening on TV.

The Women brought me back to that time, drawing memories back to the top of my consciousness, and realizing what a time of change this was for America. How we treated our Veterans when they came back. Blaming them for mistakes made in Washington and coloring every person coming home as a monster...when they were just doing the job America had asked them to do.

I was wrecked by a few parts in this book. Keep some tissues handy. I cried about the incredible loss of a generation of young men. I laughed at the gallows humor that allowed medical personnel to continue just doing their jobs. I've been there. The different attitudes about men and women in country.. The lies told to the American people about the Vietnam War. The difficulty making the switch from being shot at as they left Vietnam, and being spit upon when returning to America. The issues of mental health, PTSD diagnosis, and how to handle just being safe. Where did they belong? What had they done that was so wrong?

The issues Frankie faced as she returned to her family and to the United States were heart wrenching. A top of her game trauma/surgical nurse, begging for a job once stateside since no one believed there were women in Vietnam. Being turned away by the VA when she knew she needed help, since there were no women in combat. Finally, after falling low enough to be hospitalized for issues brought on by her time in country and her inability to return to the girl she was, she found herself through helping others.

This is a worthwhile book for those of us a little to young to serve, but have the memories of those times.. For those who did serve and perhaps would rather forget.. For young people to realize the turbulent times that went on then.

I won't soon forget the characters Ms. Hannah introduced us to in this book or the things we still need to do for our veterans...and for women in general. We seem to be slipping down the same muddy path. After 50 years, I don't think we've learned near enough.

The ending was perfect.

I’m not a big historical fiction reader, but for whatever reason I simply cannot get enough of Kristin Hannah and her particular ways of emotional manipulation! This one focuses on the involvement of women in the Vietnam War and the ways their contributions were erased. The whole thing felt so cinematic and I loved how realistically flawed the characters were.

Kristin Hannah never disappoints. The Women was fantastic. As a history teacher, I love that she's showing the work of the women in the war, and how it took much, much, later for them to be recognized. I was instantly pulled in by the characters and the story. My only wish is that she had focused more on the during war portion. As painful as it was, I really loved hearing about life in Vietnam, and watching the bond between the fellow nurses. The book wasn't as interesting to me in the after war part as it was in the beginning. I digres... Overall, and excellent read on a subject not many are knowledgable about.

Oh wow!!! This book!! 😭😭😭
Kristin Hannah did it again and with so much emotion. I was hooked from the very start. I knew this would be a five star read. I got that feeling of excitement and I couldn’t put this one down. She was able to capture the realness of you feeling like you were there. She drew you in and you felt it every single thing that happened.

Be sure to read the authors note at the end.