The Women is an amazing story of heartbreak, courage, friendship, despair and redemption set during and after the Vietnam War. Kristin Hannah tells the story of Frankie, who enlists in the Army during the Vietnam War to be closer to her brother, who is serving in the Navy. We follow Frankie during her time in Vietnam. Once she is back stateside, Frankie's story continues, as she struggles to transition back into civilian life. Kristin Hannah does an incredible job of describing Frankie's life in Vietnam. I really could imagine the sights, noise and even the smell of the makeshift hospitals where Frankie served as a nurse. Having grown up in the 1980s, I learned so much about the Vietnam War and American's views toward women and the war in the 1960s and early 1970s. It was really eye opening. While hard to read at times, this is one of the best books I have ever read. It's made a lasting impression on me.

Thank you to Kristin Hannah, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

An epic story about the different perspectives during the Vietnam War. I appreciated that this war and the women who played an integral part of this effort were the main characters in this story. The author was very detailed in her depiction of the war time surgical theater, and captured the emotions of the main characters. While I don't know much about this timeframe, this story made me want to learn more. The characters leapt off the page and tugged at my heart.

Kristen Hannah is well known for her epic historical fiction novels that center around fearless women carving a path for themselves. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that The Women is just that and more. From the moment I picked this novel up to the very last word on the page, I was enthralled with the characters, swept away by the storyline and alongside our heroine through each and every turn of the roller coaster of emotions she experienced.

Kristen Hannah has a remarkable gift for writing in a way that immerses a reader into the timeline of the story and into the emotions of the characters. Honestly, she may be the best at it and I can never pinpoint what it is about her writing that makes this happen but with each of her books, I feel exactly what I imagine the characters to be feeling. And, she sure knows how to sucker punch her reader with twists of every emotion.

The Women is centered around one woman's desire to become the American Hero that her father reveres. Except, she's a woman. And, it's the Vietnam War. Hannah highlights the atrocities of the Vietnam War, the almost impossible reintegration of Vietnam Vets back into an American Society grappling with political upheaval, and the mental health impacts that were still taboo and unknown. And she does it all beautifully.

I picked this as my first read of 2024 know that it would undoubtedly blow me away, and I am so glad I did. Without a doubt, a 5⭐️ read I will be raving about for all of time.

This book was INCREDIBLE. That being said, I had to be strategic about when I listened to this one because I just can't be bawling at my desk. Tears aside, this book truly blew me away and it is definitely a favorite book this year! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

*please note I will be refraining from posting my review on any social media platforms until the end of the boycott against St Martins Press.

The Women by Kristin Hannah
Release Date: 2/6/24
Format: ebook
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kristin Hannah has done it again! This is the best book I’ve read in well over a year. She is such a brilliant writer and handles every subject she tackles with such respect and care.

Going into The Women I didn’t have a very in depth knowledge of the Vietnam War. I am not a patriotic person and this novel still had me completely invested and it absolutely wrecked me. What a heartbreaking and beautiful story of war, love, friendship, family, and learning to heal.

I had such a movie playing in my head throughout this book as well. Hannah does such a phenomenal job as painting a picture for you without indulgent or overly flowery prose. I felt like I was there with Frankie, Barb, and Ethel as they fought their battles both in-country and back in the states.

Thank you so much to @netgalley for an advanced copy of this incredible story. It will certainly stick with me forever.

This was a very heavy, but excellent read. It touched on so many serious topics and dug deep into most. The most obvious subject was the horror of the war in Vietnam, but this book also delves into the horrible reception that the military received upon returning home, the lack of understanding around PTSD, the ignorance of the fact that there were women in Vietnam and how the nursing and doctors were exposed to so much trauma without being on the front lines with a gun in hand, and how women were treated so differently from men regarding their service.

This story was so realistic and it was a lot. People fall in love; people die; people have traumatic experiences and life changing injuries. They struggle. Their loved ones struggle.

This story follows our main character, Frankie, from before she decides to enlist in the army as a nurse through her return home and her struggles at reintegrating into her life in the states. There wasn't much lightness in it. At times, I felt almost worn down by the story just because it was so unrelenting, which made it start to feel long. However, this also made the story feel true. Frankie definitely had good moments in the story, but they felt so small amongst everything else. Yet, this helped you to understand how she would cling to those times and the bonds she made with the people she went through so much with.

Although I did think the story started to feel a little long, I don't think I would change anything to make it shorter. I think every part of the story was important and needed to be included. So, so well-written.

How can I do this book justice? 

The Women is the upcoming release from the author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone. The first half of the book follows Frances (Frankie) McGrath during her service as a nurse in Vietnam in the 1960s. The second half details her life as a veteran in a society that doesn't acknowledge or value female service members.

Frankie and her fellow Army nurses Barb and Ethel will live in my memory forever (and if you know me as a reader, just the fact that I remember all of their names shows you how much of an impact they made). Like all of Hannah's books, The Women features realistically flawed but inspiring female characters. It highlights the importance of strong female friendship, and Hannah represents the details of the Vietnam War with such care. 

I loved it.

An incredible novel about one woman's experience as a nurse during the Vietnam war.

Frankie has grown up leading a privileged life. When her brother leaves for Vietnam, she decides to join him. A time when women were not expected to be a part of the war. Joining the nursing core, she is completely taken aback but what she finds in Vietnam.

A well researched novel about the Vietnam war, the women who were part of it and how our soldiers were treated when they came home. The descriptions of the Vietnam landscape, sounds and sights of war, smells and experiences make the reader feel as though they are right there. An important novel about a challenging and changing time in America. A must read.

"Women can be heroes." These words echo in Frankie McGrath's mind as she makes the near-unfathomable decision in 1965 to enlist in the Army Nurse Corps to follow her brother, Fin, to Vietnam. When she arrives, Frankie's world bottoms out: the violence, the terror, the sheer destruction of this place--it's not the same war that people back home are talking about. With no other choice before her, Frankie throws herself into learning the ways of a wartime nurse alongside Ethel and Barb, two of the other countless women of Vietnam.

Saddled with innumerable losses and stories from the evac hospitals her loved ones could scarcely dream of, Frankie returns home to California not to the recognition her heroism deserves, but to the worlds uttered over and over: "There were no women in Vietnam." As time passes and live pulses on, Frankie finds herself constantly thrown back into her horrific, paralyzing memories of Vietnam and the fallen soldiers who now are just ghosts in her memories.

Readers, we've waited for this book for a long time. And without hesitation, I can say that "The Women" somehow, some way, tops every other Kristin Hannah novel up to this point. This story, this poignant journey that follows Frankie through war-torn Vietnam and back across time and loss and everything in between, it's unspeakably beautiful and it's also horrific. The vividness, detail, and evidence of painstaking research that Hannah has done to paint a portrait of Vietnam from a perspective that history chose to ignore for so long is nothing short of a masterpiece.

I cried through this book from the first few chapters and yet I couldn't read fast enough. This book tells the story of a war whose aftereffects still ripple through our country right now, and it gives a voice to the women who set all societal standards and expectations aside in order to send men back home to their families.

Women, Kristin Hannah declares with resounding triumph, can be heroes too.

It might be the first week of January, but I can't imagine something else topping this as my 2024 book of the year. If you pick up one novel this entire year, I implore you: let this be it.

Kristin Hannah does it yet again. I could not wait to dive into this book and once I started, I could not put it down. I was completely swept up in the time period of the Vietnam War and learned so much about how difficult life was for veterans returning (especially women). Her characters are strong, likeable, and so complex. Her writing is as flawless as ever, and as soon as I finished, I found myself looking forward to whatever hew new book will be. I would read anything she writes!

I am so glad I read this book. The historical subject matter appealed to me and I knew Kristin Hannah could write a good story. But I was a little apprehensive that a story set during the Vietnam War years might be as crushing as I found The Four Winds made the Great Depression. This turns out not to be the case.

Frankie, the protagonist of this book, isn't without her faults and challenges. She goes through some very dark times. But her story contains enough spirit, comradery and joy to help the reader power through the challenging sections. And it contains enough grit and realism to keep everything grounded. This book is a powerful statement about the war, women and men that served there and the horrible way they were treated when they returned. Recommended.

Kristen Hanna once again delivers a beautifully written book. For those who know little about the Vietnam war, it is a must read. Her characters are well-developed, the story is well structured, and the dynamics between the women involved is exhilarating..
Do yourself a favor and read this book. It’s well worth it.!

I will think about The Women for a long time. Kristin Hannah has a way of crafting moving stories that break your heart, with characters you root for and mourn with—I think The Women is her best yet.

The story centers around Frankie McGrath, a nurse from sheltered Southern California who navigates a gruesome war in Vietnam and an even more chaotic United States she returns to. There’s love and loss, family and friendships, plus more than a lifetime’s worth of trauma.

This book was personal for me. My late father was a proud Vietnam Veteran and I thought of him often while reading this. Although he did not talk much about the war, how Veterans were treated coming home from Vietnam in this book is exactly how he described it. I wish I had the opportunity to discuss this book with him, I know he wasn’t seriously hurt (although he did break a finger playing volleyball!) but I would’ve loved to learn if he crossed paths with any heroes like Frankie, Barb and Ethel.

With the challenging subject matter and all the heartbreaking trigger warnings, this book might not be for everyone. But I personally found it so immersive and transformative. As a reader, you are in the jungle with Frankie, her losses are your losses too and I get that might not be an experience everyone wants to go through. But I found it incredibly cathartic. The character arcs are well done – these women are fighters and unsung heroes to be remembered, celebrated and never forgotten. Thank you Kristin Hannah for a beautiful tribute to this generation.

I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this gem. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is an extraordinary story and I enjoyed every powering minute of it!!!!! Kristin Hannah does it again with another bestseller in the hands of her beloved readers

FrancesMcGrath is just 17 years old when her brother is deployed to Vietnam to fight in war. Frankie wants to do her part, and becomes a nurse overseas, where she experiences traumas, heartbreak and violence, as well as friendship love and hope.

In true KH fashion, she created a world over decades (1967-1980s) where I felt truly immersed and attached to the characters. I always learn so much from KH novels, and this was no different. The emotions in the story kept me reading late into the night, and I didn’t want to stop reading despite overwhelming emotions. If you are a fan of KH, grab this one when it comes out on 2/6. No review I could write would do this story justice, I simply loved it and will be thinking about it for a long time.

There are some books that I start to read and the further I get into the book I know that I will be thinking of the characters in the book a long time after I finished the last word. The Women by Kristin Hannah is one of those books.
The writing in superb and the women are real. The characters in the story jump off the pages and into my thoughts.
Frankie McGrath makes a decision to join the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. Following her and the other women she meets while serving will forever change her life.
Thank you, Kristin Hannah, for giving readers this book. It will be forever in the heart and souls of your readers. I look forward to telling others that this is one book they should read.
Thank you NetGalley, Kristin Hannah and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of The Women. This is my personal review.

Kristin Hannah is back with another amazing, eye-opening and emotional read which I devoured over the Christmas holidays. Captivating, informative and poignant, Hannah brings her readers into the Vietnam War and tells her story through the eyes of twenty-year-old combat nurse, Frances "Frankie" McGrath. Frankie served her country by saving lives and witnessed the horrors of war only to return home to find that no one appreciated or believed the sacrifice she gave for her country.

Hannah pulls no punches describing what life was like for medical staff in Vietnam. The sounds, sights and smells were vividly described for the reader. The first half of the book was set in Vietnam and the pages flew quickly as readers are right alongside Frankie as she struggled to acclimate living in a war zone in the male-dominated war. This first part of the story moved quickly and puts readers right in the heart of the war.

"Women can be heroes."

The second half of the book focused on the aftermath of the war, when the soldiers and medical personnel returned home, often not to a warm welcome from citizens or their families for their service. Instead, they were ostracized for their role in the war - a war that was never accurately described for US citizens - and left to flounder on their own with PTSD and addiction problems. Frankie fared no better with her own family's views of her role in the war. Compounded onto her struggles was the rampant sexism and disregard she experienced as friends, acquaintances and even veterans tried to convince Frankie that women were never part of the war.

"There are no women in Vietnam, dear."

Frankie hits rock bottom and soon learned that there's a bottom under that level of pain as she struggled to find her way in a world that doesn't acknowledge her suffering, her skill or her sacrifice. Her experiences with PTSD, addiction, betrayal and depression were heartbreaking and sobering to read.

Frankie is a fascinating and flawed character and readers go along on her journey from idealistic and inexperienced young woman to a woman who finds her calling and strength. There is some romance within the pages, but the female friendships really shone in this book.

Hannah unpacks the actions of the US government from hiding stats from citizens, to secretly bombing villages and using cancer-causing substances to eradicate humans and vegetation. As a Canadian, I knew the basics about the Vietnam War, the protests and the aftermath of soldiers coming home to a country that didn't support them. But I had never given thought about the women. Thank you, Kristin Hannah, for shining a light on the experiences and voices of the women who played important roles in war.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

I'd like to thank Kristin Hannah and St. Martins Press for the early review copy of this book. Unfortunately, I decided not to continue reading after 25%.

The reasons I decided not to continue were:
1. I found the main character, Frankie, unlikable and annoying.
2. There was something about the writing that fell flat for me. The characters were dull and and even moments that should have felt more exciting lacked any suspense or anticipation.

I hope that other readers are able to connect with this book.

⭐️: 4.5/5

When 20-year-old nursing student Frankie’s brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she decides to join the Army nursing corps and follow in his footsteps. When she arrives in country, she is overwhelmed by the chaos of war, and leans on the friendships and relationships she creates with her fellow doctors and nurses. However, her time in Vietnam is only the beginning, when she learns that the real battle is re-adjusting to life back at home, rife with protests and a public who would like nothing better than to forget Vietnam altogether.

I will jump to read anything that Kristin Hannah writes, especially if it’s in the historical fiction genre. While I will say that this was not my absolute favorite book by her, it was still one of the best books I’ve read recently. I’ve been on such a historical fiction kick recently, and I’ve been trying to branch out to books that aren’t only focused on the WWII timeframe. This one, focused on the Vietnam era, brought focus and attention to a group that is not talked about much in a historical context: the women who served in Vietnam. It broke my heart every time that someone invalidated Frankie and her friend’s experiences by telling them “there were no women in Vietnam” and Frankie’s story was so intimate and emotional that I couldn’t stop reading and rooting for her. She was a great main character, maybe my favorite of all the Kristin Hannah books I’ve read. The book itself was a little too one-timeline for me, since I do prefer historical fiction books with dual timelines, and although this was a fantastic book, I couldn’t help but compare it to other favorites such as The Nightingale and The Four Winds, which I found to be just slightly better.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this free eARC!!

I absolutely loved this. The time, the setting, the characters, all of it. Frankie is a character that will stick with me for a long time. Her idealism and then what she endured, truly a remarkable story. It showed me a different side of a war that is talked down about and the people who served in it. There are a few books from this author that I haven’t yet read, they just went way up on my TBR.