Take a minute, if you would. Think about the last time you read a blockbuster book about women in Vietnam. Think hard. I know that as a fifty-something women, a voracious reader, who enjoys women's history, I came up empty on this one. That's the gap that The Women starts to fill.

The Women is by best-selling novelist Kristin Hannah. Readers of the Nightingale know that if Hannah is diving into a historical topic, it will be well-researched, and it will require a lot of Kleenex. (I admit that I had to pull over while listening to scenes in The Nightingale, because I was crying so hard I couldn't drive). The Women does not disappoint in either of those areas.

Frankie McGrath has grown up knowing what heroes are - there is a wall dedicated to her family's warriors in her father's study. When her beloved brother decides to follow the family tradition and volunteers for service in Vietnam, Frankie, fresh out of nursing school, makes the life-shattering decision to enlist in the Army Nursing Corps.

Frankie, of course, discovers that she is nowhere near ready for what she encounters as a nurse in a conflict zone. She finds solace in amazing friendships and potential romances, and, inevitably, grows up fast. The characters who become Frankie's support network in the nursing corps were one of my favourite parts of the book.

There is a lot of pain in the book, both in Vietnam, and at home, as Frankie tries to adjust to who she has become. The real depth in this novel comes in that story of adjustment. There is family trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. It is not easy to read, but it is compelling, and it is a story that many women lived in silence. I am old enough to have been a fan of China Beach, which this shares a timeframe with, but The Women gives us "the rest of the story" for those women who came home, and didn't know how to "be" in a world that wasn't ready for them, or their experiences. One thing I appreciate about a book like "The Women" is the "here's what I read that informed my writing" from the author. There's lots here to continue our learning.

4.5 stars from me (rounded to 5), because I thought some of the wartime romance was predictable, and I wasn't sure it added to the depth of the story.

Thanks to St.Martin's Press and NetGalley for the e-arc.

The women by Kristin Hannah. Upcoming publishing date of Feb 2024 by St Martins press
I was so so excited to have the opportunity to read this one early in exchange for a honest review and thankful that I was able too. Kristin Hannah has been a favorite author of mine for many years!!
I have read many of KHs books and this latest one does not disappoint. This book touches on the effects of the Vietnam war on the women and the men that served, but more importantly the women, the nurses!
They were the ones who were the first lines of defense, patching up those that could be patched up,
Holding the hands,of those that didn’t survive. Sitting with them,‘writing to the family and just assuring they were not alone in their last moments of life. The ones who aided in assuring that some were able to go home to their family’s.
This book has educated me on a war and wars of what happens over there, the things that aren’t shared with the general public.
There were moments in the book that I thought I knew what was going to happen next but there were definitely some moments that saddened me and some of excitement of this story of love, loss, hopelessness, addictions, ptsd, lifelong friendships and oh so much more.
I enjoyed this book so much and highly recommend you have tissues near by when you read this story. You will definitely need them.
Five star book ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you KH for another great read!!

Thank you to all that served our country, the veterans, the fallen hero’s and the women who also were hero’s! Bless you all.

This is another very strong entry into Kristin Hannah's catalog of historical fiction. There were many things to appreciate about this book. The depictions of Vietnam (the horror of incoming wounded, the dirty exhaustion of the hospitals, the trips beyond camp borders, even the beauty of the landscape) were vivid. Our main character, Frankie, showed a very human combination of naivete and grit that had me both cheering for her and yelling at her. And as strong as the first part of the novel (in-country) was, the second half was equally powerful in its description of what life was like for returning veterans in terms of the the disrespect and anger at re-entry and the ongoing struggles with both the physical and psychic wounds of war. And, of course, the spin Hannah put on the stories in highlighting women's experiences before, during, and after the war was very well-done and SO maddening. My only small quibble with the book was the VERY ending (like, last few pages). Otherwise, an excellent read.

Another incredible historical fiction piece from Hannah that doesn’t feel like fiction at all.

This story chronicles Frances McGrath as she enlists in the Army as a nurse during the Vietnam War, serves her tours, then comes back home and figures out what is next for her. This is such an emotional story through every journey she takes. I felt all the emotions reading this book (as I do with all KH books!) I was so mad at her parents, devastated for the losses of you know who, so grateful for the friendships with Ethel and Barb, so sad through her struggles, and so much more.

McGrath’s story is full of loss, hardship, friendship and love. It devastates you, breaks your heart, gives you hope then does it all over again. I spent the last 20% of the book just hoping and praying for a good ending and I can say I’m happy with how it turned out.

Hannah has a way of writing that makes a reader like they are there in the novel with each character. It’s so detailed and well written. I never really knew much about the Vietnam War but after reading this, I want to learn more about it.

If you don’t ever read the Author’s Note, I highly recommend you read it this time. The last paragraph broke me🤍

Amazing historical novel of the 1960's where women went to war as nurses.. Frankie's brother went first to Vietnam, then Frankie decided she wanted to make a difference. As a nurse she was overwhelmed with the trauma of war. Then to return home and people saying there were no women in the war. I can't believe we were so divided and didn't appreciate their sacrifice! Thanks to Kristan Hannah for bringing this to light again. Reminding us women are heroes too in the Vietnam War. A must read! Thanks to Kristan Hannah, Netgalley, and St Martin's Press for this monumental novel!

First off thanks to netgalley for providing me an ARC!
My review is high level and doesn't include all the details, but it doesn't include any spoilers because I want everyone to read this book.

Frankie enlists in the army as a combat nurse after her brother, Finley, goes over to Vietnam. Prior to leaving for training, her family finds out that he was killed. Frankie still goes.
While in Vietnam, she works at multiple hospitals and sees the horrors of the war and realizes the media/president were not being honest. She makes friends with 2 other nurses and a doctor, who become her support system. She cares for many dying men and many children/civilians who were hurt by the US attacks.
Frankie does 2 tours, by the time she returns, America is very different and she is not treated well by anyone, including her parents.
She goes through PTSD and tries to navigate returning home. Having flashbacks and issues sleeping leads to an addiction. She wants help but no one will help her, not her parents and especially not the VA.
This story is absolutely gut wrenching and beautifully written. 100% recommend to any and everyone.
This will be the book of the year next year.

This story was beautifully written. Kristin Hannah just knows how to tell a story. She does the research and makes you truly feel for her characters. This book is no exception. I took my time reading it and although I was sad reading it, I am even sadder now that I am done with it. If you like to read books about women, resilience, historical fiction, this is the book for you. I hope it makes its way to a tv/movie screen. I will be ready with my tissues.

Excellent book about the Vietnam war and the after effects of the war. Follows Francis, a nurse who entered the army. Wonderful love story, loss story and opens your eyes up to war. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

"The Women" was my first Kristin Hannah read, and the storytelling and character development are this novel's strengths. It was an engaging tale that was hard to put down - there haven't been a lot of stories from nurses in the Korean or Vietnam conflicts, other than Margaret Hoolihan and occasional minor characters on M*A*S*H, and that, of course, was ages ago.

So Frankie wants to be a hero in a family that values its male soldiers. Hoping to impress her father, she enlists after her brother has done the same. Once deployed, she finds a strong support system in the other nurses, also well developed characters, even as she finds herself overwhelmed by the demands of being newbie nurse on the warfront. With it, comes the heartbreak, tragedy, moments of joy, etc. you'd expect in a wartime tale.

The book chronicles Frankie's journey over 20 years, through the war, and the aftermath once she returns home. A good dive into stories of some forgotten heroes. For what it is, it's a good historical fiction read - and while I most appreciate stories that have precision and artfulness in language to accompany a strong story line, this narrative kept me reading straight through.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital copy of this amazing book in exchange for my review.

The Women, by Kristin Hannah, is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. However, I simply cannot give away too much of the plot without revealing key elements of the story that would spoil the reader's enjoyment of - and absorption into - this book.

Frances McGrath, a young nurse from Coronado Island, California, joins the army and serves in the Vietnam War. It is there that her life changes forever. After a 2-year tour, she comes home, and her life is not the same, but her friends Barb and Ethel remain with her through it all.

I did not live through the Vietnam War, but this book, although fiction, is so grounded in reality and well-researched that it changed my whole perspective on this time in American history. The novel is beautifully written and the characters are so believable; have your box of tissues ready. I highly recommend this book for fans of Kristin Hannah, those who love historical fiction, and anyone who can appreciate books with strong female protagonists.

Kristin does it again and again. She weaves and emotional experience and sheds light on a mostly untold story at the same time. Her research is brilliant and she guts me with almost every novel. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars

Television viewers familiar with the TV show 'MASH' (1972 -1983) - a comedy about an American army hospital in South Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953) - know that female nurses were present in combat zones. In other words, women contributed to the war effort.

The Vietnam War (1955 -1975) largely took place before MASH was on the air, and most people at the time dismissed the notion that American women were in Vietnam. So females that returned from that war-torn country - traumatized and suffering from PTSD - were ignored, dismissed, brushed off, etc.

That reality is at the heart of Kristin Hannah's novel 'The Women.'

*****

As the story opens, the year is 1965 and 20-year-old Frances Grace McGrath (Frankie) lives on Coronado Island in California, home to many proud Navy families. Frankie's father has a 'heroes wall' in his study, which contains photos of men in uniform, medals for valor and injury, a triangle-folded American flag, and other memorabilia of family members who served their country.

Now Frankie's beloved older brother Finley, who graduated from the Naval Academy, is shipping out to Vietnam, and their dad is as proud as punch. Frankie, who recently graduated from nursing school, decides to follow Finley overseas and joins the Army Nurse Corps.

Frankie is quickly shipped to the Thirty-Sixth Evac Hospital in Vietnam, where she's one of nine female nurses on staff. The facility smells like jet fuel, smoke, fish, rotting vegetation, and excrement, and Frankie is told she'll see, "very seriously injured....everything from leprosy, to amputations to rat bites to what's left of a soldier after a land mine."
As a new inexperienced nurse, Frankie is initially overwhelmed at the Thirty-Sixth Evac, but is helped to acclimatize by her hooch-mates, Barb and Ethel, who soon become her best friends.

Frankie is also taught the ropes by a kind older doctor in the Neuro ward, which houses paraplegics, patients with pelvic fractures, burn patients, and other men who can't stand much manipulation. Once Frankie gets her feet under her in Neuro, she can move on to triage, first aid, treatment, surgery, and other things.

Author Kristin Hannah provides a vivid picture of Frankie's experiences at the Evac hospital: the heat; being constantly drenched in sweat; the sour-smelling sheets; the boonie hats; the mud; the pounding headaches; the nurses latrines; the outdoor showers; the gunfire and explosions; the sound of incoming helicopters; running to get the injured off the choppers; the horribly mutilated soldiers who have limbs blown off; faces half gone; guts hanging out; and other horrible injuries. Frankie and her colleagues also treat injured Vietnamese civilians, including babies and children, who are burned by napalm, sick, and hurt.

There's some relief from the horror of the medical wards in a 'recreational' Quonset hut with a plywood bar, a stereo system, and tables to sit at. Here hospital personnel smoke, drink, sing, dance, and socialize. There are also occasional movies on the grounds, and spontaneous games of football and the like. Of course men vastly outnumber women in the Evac hospital, the doctors think they're gods, and Frankie is warned to to be careful because "Over here, the men lie and they die."

The first part of the book follows Frankie's experiences in-country, at the Thirty-Sixth Evac and then at the Seventy-First Evac, which is smack in the middle of a combat zone. In the midst of war Frankie soon becomes a skilled surgical nurse, able to close up and perform simple operations herself. Frankie also meets all manner of soldiers, helicopter pilots, drivers, doctors, nurses, Donut Dollies (female Red Cross volunteers), and others involved in the war effort. Frankie tries to heed the "men lie" dictum, but things happen when lives can be snuffed out in an instant.

After two tours in Vietnam, Frankie returns home to a country where people are against the war and take it out on the men (and women) who served. Veterans are maligned and disrespected and Frankie's parents - who disapproved of her enlisting - won't even let her talk about Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Frankie is anxious and depressed; she has frequent nightmares; she constantly wakes up on the floor beside her bed; she has PTSD and hits the ground when she hears fireworks; she learns distressing news that sends her into a spiral; and more.

To cope, Frankie smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol (lots and lots of alcohol), and takes pills (lots and lots of pills). And when Frankie tries to get help from the Veterans Administration, she's told women didn't serve in Vietnam and shooed away. Things get worse and worse for Frankie until a crisis occurs and drastic steps are necessary.

We follow Frankie's struggles throughout the book. Frankie gets little support from people in her home region of Coronado Island/San Diego, but she can count on Barb - who lives in Virginia, and Ethel - who lives in Georgia, to show up when she needs help.

Eventually, the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial is erected in 1982, and Vietnam veterans are accorded the respect they deserve. However Frankie and others who served in Vietnam have to deal with a great deal of contempt first.

As I read the book, I felt completely immersed in Frankie's life, and was dismayed by the treatment she received when she returned to the United States. I was especially annoyed with Frankie's father, who refused to put her picture on the 'heroes wall', because only male veterans were allowed up there. (Can you imagine?)

I empathized with Frankie, but was bothered by her extreme naïvety about men. That said, I understand the need for drama in a novel.

One thing I really like about the book are the songs and lyrics that punctuate many of Frankie's activities. These include ditties like: I Wanna Hold Your Hand; Come On Baby Light My Fire; Like a Rolling Stone; We Gotta Get Outta This Place; Born To Be Wild; I Am Woman; and more.

This is an excellent book that should appeal to men and women alike. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kristin Hannah, and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book.

Frankie McGrath wants to desperately be on her father’s “hero’s” wall. Her brother Finlay has decided to go off to fight in Vietnam. At Finlay’s going away celebration Frankie is told women can also be hero’s. Yearning to not want to be far from her brother Frankie also enlists to go to Vietnam as a nurse.

However, heros are made to be broken. Frankie sees things in Vietnam no one should ever see. When she returns home
help is hard to find. Her life as she knew it is over and it is up to her to rebuild it.

Kristin Hannah does it again! Absolutely will be “the book to read” in 2024!! This book is a roller coaster of emotions and I loved every page of it.

I found this book fascinating! Being a bit young to understand the Vietnam War and the treatment of returning soldiers, this book was eye opening. Frankie was naive but brave as she headed to Vietnam because she heard that “Women can be heroes, too”. Her Dad is a misynogic man who believes that only men can be heroes.
Putting herself in peril, she lives through horrific scenes tending to the wounded on the front lines.And she suffers her own losses as well.
To return home and be spit on, denied access to the Veterans March (because Women didn’t fight in Vietnam) was appalling. I highly recommend this book.

Another masterpiece of storytelling by Kristen Hannah. The vulnerability and resilience in her characters makes you laugh, cry, cheer, feel anger and sympathy. A must read for everyone. A story that should have been told years ago.

Kristin Hannah is a beloved author of many people, including myself. When I received a copy of her latest book, The Women, I was ecstatic. Sadly, this book did not deliver like all her previous books that I have enjoyed. The Women centers on twenty-year-old nursing student, Frankie McGrath, who joined the Army Nursing Corps during the Vietnam War. While the book is well-researched, I feel like the characters in this book are not as well-developed. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced e-reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin Hannah is one of my all time favorite authors... she can do no wrong! This book was no exception, I truly loved it from start to finish.

Kristin Hannah has done it again - this is an incredible book. Beautifully written, it is the story of Frankie McGrath, a nurse in the Vietnam war and her experiences in the war and her return home. It was heartbreaking to read about what the women who served in Vietnam went through - both in the war and how they were treated when they returned home. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I loved this book so much. I really enjoyed following Frankie's story of becoming a nurse only to then volunteer for the Vietnam War and have her entire world changed by what she sees and endures during that time. I loved seeing the changes that she goes through from being a "FNG", to veteran, to returning home and having to start over finding herself again and dealing with the traumas she experienced. I had so many emotions reading this book - definitely cried several times - and I thought it was a very realistic portrayal of what these nurses and women would have gone through at that time. I also really enjoyed the friendships Frankie made over the course of the book. The ending was especially sweet and hopeful. Such a well done story. 5 stars, but I wish I could give it more.

“She didn’t know who she was without the pain or the need to hide it.”

This is another emotional read by Kristen Hannah! The way she tells a story transports you in time and place – the forests of Alaska, the plains of Oklahoma, the horrors of World War II, and this time, the hell of Vietnam. While a deep read, the words float off the page and the reading, while hard, feels effortless. Don’t be scared of the page count!

On the surface this is the story of a highly contested war. It details the story of veterans, especially women, that no one recognized or honored. A review of The Women could focus on these elements alone. Surely there were enough of them. But this story is so much deeper.

It also is the story of women that must continue with a mantra of “no fear” when at times fear is all that consumes them. It conveys the motto of soldiering on – in war and in life – and pretending to be ok when nothing is truly ok. It showcases how women must fake a smile and pretend to be happy, all to be and do what is expected by them of society. While set in the 1960s, one could argue that the struggles portrayed in this book are struggles women deal with yet today. Women can be heroes, and Frankie shows us courage, sacrifice, pain, growth and hope.

Additionally, it is filled with detailed scenes you can hear and smell, love you can see, and fear (and hope) you can feel.

PS - I loved the Fairest of the Fair reference in the hospital scene (as a former WI Fairest of the Fairs)!