Frankie Mcgrath joins the army to help fight the Vietnam war. She enlists as a nurse following her brother. The first half of the book follows Frankie’s time in Vietnam. I really enjoyed the first part of the book. The second part follows Frankie as she returns home and her struggles she faced due to PTSD. I found the second half of the book slow, and slightly repetitive. I still really enjoyed it, and will recommend it to fans of historical fiction.

Kristin Hannah's tale of women nurses who served in the Vietnam war really explored their experiences both during the war, and their experiences coming home. While the first half was "in country" and followed Frankie through her experiences as a surgical nurse, the second half focused on her re-entry into civilian life, the PTSD she suffered, and the lack of resources for women who served as nurses, but not in combat. While I enjoyed this book, it will not be my favorite Kristin Hannah. The story itself felt like it was lacking a little bit of depth into characters other than Frankie and I found the plot to be more predictable than her other novels.

The Women
By Kristin Hannah

I can not imagine what our Vietnam Veterans went through upon returning home from war. This story is amazing and gives you a glimpse of what women in Vietnam went through while at war and after coming home. The struggles of day to day living and not one person acknowledging that they were in Vietnam is was horrifying. This story of Frankie McGrath as an Army nurse who found her strength while in Vietnam.
I have to say that I absolutely loved this story & I am not typically a historical fiction reader.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy I’m turn for my honest review. I really enjoyed this story.

This was such a tough and dark book. And yet Frankie kept me engaged and I kept rooting for her. This was about a part of American history I didn’t know much about, and I found it absolutely fascinating, and depressing. This author knows how to write compelling story, and will definitely buy a physical copy.

Book review of The Women by Kristin Hannah

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this early release copy. This book is out February 6, 2024 and I can't recommend it enough.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I love Kristin Hannah books, but this one was a little different, but still one of my favorites. I like historical fiction and this is that with your normal love story, angst, heartbreak and all that..

Frankie, sees her brother go off to war to Vietnam and decides that she will enlist as a nurse to follow him. After she sees him off to war, but before she leaves herself, they get word, he was killed in action. Her dreams of reuniting with her brother Finley are shattered. When she gets to Vietnam, her images off everything are off kilter. She meets two other nurses, Barb and Ethel and they become her lifeline. She works closely with a surgeon, Jamie, as she learns to be the best trauma nurse around. She works long, hard hours and sees things no one should see. She finds relief in the brief moments with her good friends.
As her friends one by one, go home, she decides to stay for another tour, to help all the boys she feels like are her brothers over there. When she sees her brother's best friend, Rye, she can't believe it. They begin a brief affair before she is shipped home.
Once she gets home, she struggles with the PTSD of war and what she has seen. No one wants to believe she has been to war, and her father even told people she was abroad studying.
As Frankie falls deeper into the spiral of not finding sound footing at home, the world itself is crazy. People protesting the war, treating the vets that have returned like second class citizens, and Frankie trying to find her footing as a nurse.
It's a story about war, the women who sacrifice for their country and get no recognition, love, loss and how to find yourself after losing yourself.
I read a ton of historical fiction, but this is first about Vietnam. It's a good book and I highly recommend it.
#crazybooknerd
#NetGalley
#TheWomen
#bookstagram

I love and support Kristin Hannah as an author.

I do not support St Martins Press at this time.

The racist, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti Palestine content that was posted to their social media platform is disgusting and it is not ok.

Excuse my language, but holy s%@t. That was incredible. About halfway through I was skeptical about how the story was going to end, I’m so glad my assumptions were wrong. Hannah never ceases to amaze me. As mentioned in the authors note, I can only imagine how difficult this was to write, which makes it even more impressive.

The Women by Kristen Hannah is a historical fiction novel set during the Vietnam War. The main character, Frankie McGrath, comes from a well-to-do family that takes pride in it's long line of service to the military. When Frankie's brother ships out to do his part, she impulsively enlists as an Army nurse. Frankie is dropped into the chaos of war but eventually with the help of her best friends, she becomes a respected member of the medical staff. After two tours she returns to her former life only it isn't the homecoming she thought it would be.
Like so many of Kirstin Hannah's books, I found this one engaging and well researched. Her war descriptions were vivid and she captured the America's distaste for the war that Frankie faced when she returned.

What I didn't like: The resurrection of two of the main male characters that were presumed dead. I could see using this literary vehicle once but not twice.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow.
I have so many emotions following this book. It was so heartbreaking, lovely and mix of so many other emotions that I can’t even begin to describe. The Vietnam war is a very tough topic to take on and I don’t believe the women have still received the help and admiration they deserve. The horrific scenes they lived through make my heart hurt. As always, thank you Kristin Hannah for tackling these tough subjects and always giving us the books we never knew we needed.

The Women tells the story of Frances McGrath- after her brother enlists in the Navy and is sent to Vietnam, Frankie decides to use her nursing degree and enlists as an Army nurse. Frankie is completely unprepared for what she encounters when she arrives in Vietnam, but she meets two other nurses who she bonds with closely. When Frankie comes home a few years later, she is once again unprepared- for the society that is divided on the war, for the PTSD she brings home and for her family's disappointment. I really like historical fiction and feel I've read so many books about WWI and WWII and reading about the Vietnam War was a bit of a new experience for me- I had so many feelings for Frankie, the women who served and veterans at that time in general. This is another powerful book by Kristin Hannah- def add it to your list, coming out in February 2024!

Nowadays, I work as a librarian, but back in the day, I was a student radical and one of the Soixante-Huitards (Sixty-Eighters) who took part in the short-lived May Revolution in Paris. Hannah's narrative about the volunteer nurses truly struck a chord with me. Most accounts of the Vietnam War combat veterans often overlook the experiences of the serving nurses. Hannah managed to beautifully depict Frankie's story, making it incredibly convincing and emotionally moving.
Living through that tumultuous era, many of us have been unable to escape its chaos, and some are still dealing with the aftermath of that terrible war. All I can say is that if someone had told me 55 years ago that a novel about nurses in Vietnam would bring tears to my eyes, I would never have believed them.
Bravo to Hannah for a job well done!

At this start of this novel, I thought maybe Kristin Hannah had lost her touch. The first few chapters seemed bland, formulaic, and completely uninteresting. Frances "Frankie" McGrath is a naive girl with only vague plans for her future as a young woman in the 1960s. As the Vietnam war begins she questions her possible role in society, and in a surprise attempt at making her parents proud of her, enlists as an army nurse. At this point in the story I really thought I might not make it through the rest of the book.
HOWEVER, as soon as Frankie lands at the 37th Evac Hospital in her Army issued dress, stocking, and heels, Kristin Hannah delivers the shock and rawness of the Vietnam War Frankie and many others must have felt. The emotions, the wounds, the relationships, the weariness, are made quite vivid, and for the rest of the story Hannah takes the reader through the daily life of an Army nurse. The juxtaposition in writing style the author so craftily used to bore and then wake up readers mimics the way Frankie felt due to inaccurate reporting by government of what was really going on in the war. I knew there was never any reason to doubt one of my favorite authors!
As Frankie returns, she realizes that the America she left has changed, and she must learn to navigate life as a Vietnam veteran who isn't accepted by her family, her community, or even male veterans. As she spirals, she also learns who she really is.
This book is more than a historical fiction. It is a woman's journey through being expected to follow a set path and the aftermath of choosing another way. It is her story through finding her worth, her mission, and her future.

This book was amazing! It should not have taken so long for the story of Vietnam nurses to hit the historical fiction genre, but I'm glad it finally has and I'm glad it was with an author like Kristin Hannah.

This story follows the women who served America in the Vietnam war. The women who gave their all to be there and save the men in combat. Though it most specifically follows Frankie (Frances), a young girl desperate to be as close to her brother’s side in the war that she enrolls in nursing school and ultimately enlists. Her journey in Vietnam is incredible, the other incredible women that she forms bonds with, and the people she meets are all so beautiful, but her journey home is so much more. From little to no acceptance of what she’s been through from her parents, to protestors, to those who are convinced that women didn’t serve in Vietnam.

Walking through the hardships, friendships, love and life post-war with Frankie was one of the most amazing stories I’ve experienced. As a women, I was so in awe of what women went through and how so much, yet so little, has changed in our country. So proud of these brave women. So sad that the veterans were treated the way that they were for so many years. I cannot recommend this book enough and I am so excited for the publish date when I can gift this to the strong women in my life.

THE WOMEN by Kristen Hannah is a very moving story. It is beautifully written and the research of the Vietnam War, done Ms. Hannah, is spot on.
Frances (Frankie) McGarth grows up on Coronado Island among the Country Club society. Wanting to make her Father proud too, Frankie follows her brother to Vietnam as a Nurse. When she returns back home, her Father isn’t proud of her and her Country turns its back on her.

I received an ARC copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
This is the best 5 Star book I read in 2023!

Having read a few books from this author before, I knew I was in for a treat. This story highlights a lesser-known area of history - women's contributions to the Vietnam War. It was so interesting and disheartening to see the way that veterans - both men and women - were treated returning from Vietnam. It was especially upsetting to see that women had to endure what the characters in this book did and then suffer in silence after their return. This story definitely is a must-read if you have enjoyed books like The Nightingale and want to know how these historical events affected women, because the impact and works of them are much less talked about, especially in fiction. Its amazing to see something so touching and well-written from a woman's viewpoint and know it was so well-researched.
Highly recommend!

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin Hannah is truly one of the greatest of our time. I love how she pours her soul into doing the research. This is such a NEEDED story - I can't believe there aren't more like it. Yes, please read it.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

They were the women who went to war. They were the nurses of Vietnam. And when they came home they were silenced, spat upon, and treated much the same as the soldiers of that war. They were even denied by the soldiers! And for years they were alone and unrecognized for all they did, "in country".

Once again, Kristin Hannah, has written a story of a heroic woman; correction, women, who went to war as nurses and came home as broken as the men. " The Women", is a novel with so much heart and soul. With gorgeous prose, that fairly jumps off the page, Ms. Hannah has written a fabulous tribute to those women. And it should not be missed! I highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed this book. Very detailed, well developed characters & storyline. I felt like I was there throughout the book. So many emotions. I love reading anything by Kristin Hannah. Would recommend to others