This books was clearly well researched and written thoughtfully. The characters were vibrant and flawed in a very realistic way. Hannah does a beautiful job pulling me in to feel all of the complicated emotions right along with her characters.

Once again, Kristin Hannah has done it. A historical fiction piece that is riveting, interesting and made me feel. I loved that I expected the story to go on a certain path and each time I wasn’t sure I liked where it was going, the story turned revealing exactly what the book needed. Five star read and top 10 of the year, for sure!

The Women ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publishing Date February 6th 2024
“Women can be heros.”
“We don’t really talk about it. The war no one wants to remember.”

War. Love. Heartbreak. Addiction. Women.

What an absolutely beautiful novel. This could be my favorite I’ve read in quite some time & I do believe it will be in the top books of 2024. This is told through the eyes of Frankie, an Army Nurse who served in Vietnam. This story takes you through her enlisting, her time in country and her life when she returns to the US.

This book had me crying in heartbreak, crying in happiness and laughing along with the good times - which there were many of as well.

Look to pick this one up February 6th ❤️

Thank you NetGalley, St Martins Press & Kristin Hannah for the audio version of this novel.

Kristin Hannah’s The Women is an incredibly thought provoking and beautiful tribute to the women who served in Vietnam. It’s not an easy read as Hannah minces no words in her descriptions of war violence, war injuries, and the suffering that Veterans continued to endure in the aftermath of the war when they came home, not just the horrific way Veterans were treated to but the lasting effects of PTSD, drug abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, and health issues from exposure to agent orange. Hannah’s depiction is brutal and honest. The strength, bravery and courage these women exhibited was inspiring and the bond that was forged between this tight knit group of Army Nurses and their enduring friendship was beautiful.

I listened to the audiobook that was read by Julia Whelan and she truly brought these characters to life, giving them the dignity, honor and respect they deserved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook that is due to publish 06FEB2024. The opinions above are my own and it’s my pleasure to leave an honest review.

Kristin Hannah and Julia Whelan do it again..
I'll start off by saying I'm huge fans of both of their work. I feel they both do such a thurough job in anything they complete.

The Women was about Frances “Frankie” McGrath who follows her brothers path in joining the Vietnam war and becomes an Army Nurse. War is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends, coming home is a whole different battle. This is a story of one woman who went to war, but it also serves as a beacon for all women who put themselves in danger and whose devotion to their country and sacrifices are all too frequently overlooked.

Throughout the book I was SO angry for Frankie when people were constantly telling her "women weren't in Vietnam". When she was begging for help and she was told to basically get over it, that she wasn't a man who fought in the war. I wanted to reach through the book, give her a hug and help her in any way I can.

This story is moving and heart-wrenching and I'm so incredibly grateful to have the chance to listen to this phenomenal audiobook early. Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press!

Oh this book! It is an emotional roller coaster, such an impactful look at the Women who went to Vietnam, mostly as nurses but also a little bit about the Donut Dollies. "There weren't any women in Vietnam" is often stated throughout the book and is a painful reminder of how they were treated after serving their country, suffering from PTSD, medical issues, miscarriages and not given the recognition they deserved and truly needed to move on with their lives. This is the best book I've read this year.. and I read a lot of good books! I don't think I've cried this much since Kristin Hannah's last book.

And the audiobook narration by the inimitable Julia Whelan.. I have no words! She is the absolute best narrator to do this book justice. I really really appreciated that the audiobook also contained an introduction, and Afterword and Acknowledgements sections narrated by the Kristin Hannah herself. I usually listen to audiobooks but also check out the book or ebook from the library so I don't miss out on these sections, but it's even more meaningful hearing them in her own voice.

I also highly recommend watching or listening to Kristin Hannah's appearance on the 200th episode of the Friends and Fiction podcast, which is also available on their YouTube channel and Facebook group, it contains lots of great insights and discussion.

THE WOMEN
Kristin Hannah

THE WOMEN is Kristin Hannah’s latest piece of historical fiction, this time focusing on the women who served in the Vietnam War.

In THE WOMEN we are following Frances (Frankie) McGrath, a Vietnam combat nurse. We follow Frankie through every war, every love, and everything that felt like both.

Told in part through letters between Frankie and her friends over the years. Frankie sharing parts of her life she felt able to disclose, withholding everything else. Others wanting her to move on- her unable to.

Let's talk about a few of the things I thought were exceptional in THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah.

Kristin Hannah builds attachment to characters swiftly and fluidly, and it feels effortless. The writing is exceptional and extremely easy to read. It is historical but not the boring historical fiction you’re used to. The story is fascinating and feels like a much-needed change in the topic of conversation.

The forgotten women of Vietnam are the needed reminder that we are living history. That every breath taken today will be a moment in time written about tomorrow. THE WOMEN is challenging and rewarding and one of the best pieces of historical fiction I have read lately. I recommend it to fans of the genre and those wanting to jump in feet first.

I was thankfully provided an audiobook copy and my exceptional reading experience was due in part to Julia Whelan’s performance. She shines with Hannah’s material.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!

THE WOMEN comes out on February 6, 2024, and is available for pre-order where books are sold.

THE WOMEN…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kristin Hannah really is a master storyteller! This is the first story I've ever read that put the women serving in Vietnam at the forefront. As much sacrifice and turmoil that they faced, they came home to utter disrespect and disregard for their service. It was abhorrent. I'm glad the heroine faced her struggles and didn't have a clear-cut happy ending. It was real and raw - another winner from the author.

“For a woman in love you have the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“The last best place.”

“He’s here. I feel him.”
“I always feel him.”

“The Women” is everything I want in my historical fiction. Hannah did her work entwining historical moments in our country’s history while creating fictional characters that I absolutely loved. The trio of friends — Frankie, Barb and Ethel — were such a wonderful reminder of how it’s important to lean into friendships, how it’s okay to not be okay, that asking for help doesn’t make you weak.

As a reader, I do think you have to believe in kismet for some of the connections in this novel, and if you’re willing to do so, you’ll be absolutely moved by the story Hannah weaves.

✨ 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 ✨

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕟 𝕓𝕪 𝕂𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕙, ɴᴀʀʀᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴊᴜʟɪᴀ ᴡʜᴇʟᴀɴ
ꫝⅈડ𝕥ꪮ𝕣ⅈᥴꪖꪶ ᠻⅈᥴ𝕥ⅈꪮꪀ • ꪜⅈꫀ𝕥ꪀꪖꪑ ᭙ꪖ𝕣 • ꪶꪮꪜꫀ ડ𝕥ꪮ𝕣ꪗ
𝘈𝘓𝘊 • 𝘗𝘶𝘣 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: 6 𝘍𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This is a war story. Devastatingly heart-wrenching, this book deserves & needs to be read.

Told through the eyes of Frankie, a volunteer Army nurse, The Women tells the stories of friendship, of love, of heartbreak, and of hope. The first half of the novel takes place on the front-lines through the bloodiest, grimmest battles in Vietnam; the second half is just as disturbing: in the aftermath of the war, navigating reintegration into a society that neither acknowledges their bravery nor recognizes their trauma. We get to experience what happens when you are invisible, your very existence erased. This novel claps back: "We were there.”

Julia Whelan does an outstanding job narrating Frankie's character as well as those of nurses hailing from various other parts of the US with different accents. I highly recommend audio format for this book [which I also reviewed as a digital ARC previously].

I can see this book getting banned in places for its unflattering portrayal of the US government's Vietnam War policies. The lies told to the public by then-POTUS (LBJ, Nixon) and their administrations are eerily familiar when juxtaposed against the rhetoric heard from current war zone frontlines and politicians.

Also jarring: in the timeline of the book, in 1972 contraception becomes legalized for unmarried women [in a Supreme Court decision]. Frightening that we are now plummeting backwards in time for women's rights.

Kristin Hannah has tackled an immensely difficult topical area and done it with finesse and grace. A must read. This book releases Feb 6, in just over a week!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @MacmillanAudio for granting me a copy of the ALC.

This book ripped my heart out…several times.

Frankie is at a going away party for her brother, who is going off to Vietnam. That night her brother’s best friend, Rye, tells Frankie that women can be heroes, too. This single statement changes the trajectory of Frankie’s entire life. She decides to become a nurse and then join the military so she can join the war.

The book is about love and loss, and more loss. It is about hope, healing, PTSD, addiction and a myriad of things that Vietnam veterans experienced after the war. It is also about the women who were often ignored and told that women were not there in Vietnam. It is about their struggles to be seen and heard, all while trying to recover from their own traumatic experiences.

Julia Whalen did such a beautiful job narrating. She captured the feelings from fear to sadness to anger and frustration so perfectly. She brought the book to life.

This was such a beautifully written book. As a nurse, a piece of my heart will stay with this book forever.

This was the easiest five stars I have ever given to a historical fiction book.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Kristen Hannah’s historical fiction is unparalleled! In The Women, we follow the life of Frankie. Frankie, an educated nurse, enlists in the military to join her father’s wall of honor. After the death of her brother in Vietnam, Frankie is more determined to prove her worth. The reader follows Frankie though her first and second assignment where she meets and loses a full list of friends and lovers. After returning from war, Frankie must come to terms with a world that does not accept her or her experiences. Hannah’s research and ability to create characters that convey the stories of thousands of real people is unmatched. This book is beautiful in every way.

“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words: we were there.”

Frances ‘Frankie’ McGrath joins the Vietnam war as an Army Nurse, stepping away from the path her conservative, affluent parents had planned for her and towards a brand new future she’s only beginning to imagine. We follow Frankie through unimaginable horrors, moments of intense bravery, bitter betrayal, and terrible grief both during and after her service. Through everything, this is a story about friendship, healing, and love - most importantly learning to love yourself.

Beautifully written, incredibly immersive, and honestly so enlightening. Kristin Hannah is shining light on the stories and experiences of Vietnam veterans, specifically the women who served as nurses during the war. Wow - how much our country has forgotten or silenced about the way this war and its aftermath was handled.

I can imagine how much work went into researching, story-seeking, and world building every tiny detail of this novel. Julia Whalen did a fantastic job narrating this audiobook.

This is the 5⭐️ read you’ve been waiting for. I can’t wait for this book to publish - look out for it on February 6th!

Thank you Macmillan audio and St Martin’s Press for access to this audiobook ARC!

Kristin Hannah has done it again. She has created a historical fiction novel that takes a subject that has been forgotten and brings it to the forefront so we will remember the history that women have been such a big part of. This is a subject that not many authors have tackled. This powerful drama is a tribute to the heroic women in the Vietnam War.

This story begins with a California nurse who decides to join her brother in the Vietnam War efforts. This very important novel tells of the tragedies and heartbreak that our heroic women and men went through and the prices they paid to fight communism.

Kristin Hannah tells a story with such beautifully written and poignant words that you feel you are there in Vietnam with the characters. She also develops characters who feel real and full of flaws. What I love about Hannah’s writing is that you may think the story is going one way and she shocks you by taking the story to an entirely different way.

This book is being published on February 6, 2024 and I will definitely recommend to friends and family who love historical fiction. Thank you, Net Galley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the Advanced Reader Copy. #NetGalley #TheWomen @MacmillanAudio

Wow! Just... WOW!

First off, the audio version of this novel is phenomenal. Julia Whelan is an automatic listen anyways.

The book is focused on Frances "Frankie"McGrath, a recent nursing graduate from Coronado Island, California. Her brother, Finley, has joined the Navy and been shipped off to Vietnam. Frankie's dad has a "Hero's Wall" in his office with pictures of all the men in the family who have served in the military along with their wives. Frankie longs to have her own spot on the wall. She decides to enlist in the Army as they are the only branch that will take nurses without prior experience. She is quickly shipped off to Vietnam and is quickly overwhelmed. Her bunkmates, Barb and Ethel, help her navigate the new land and her job as a nurse. Frankie goes through many experiences while in Vietnam, all of them life-changing. When she returns home after two years, she is met with hatred from fellow Americans. Her own parents lied to their friends about the fact that she was deployed, saying that she was studying in Florence instead. The public had no idea that women were in Vietnam. Once home, Frankie quickly spirals out of control, losing herself to alcohol and eventually to prescription drugs. She tries many times to get help and was turned away time and time again. The ending gave me hope for Frankie. I cried so many times, especially when her loves were lost.

I've never read a book like this. This was the most heart wrenching historical fiction I've ever read. I felt like I was standing alongside Frankie in Vietnam, holding the soldiers hands as they passed, hearing the choppers overhead. I felt her grief as she came home and faced the struggles of living with undiagnosed PTSD. The fact that people stateside were adamant that there were no women in Vietnam was astonishing! Even at the VA! I felt her heartbreak over lost loves. I have never felt as connected to a character as I did to Frankie. Kristin Hannah is an absolute genius. The amount of research that went into this novel is obvious. It is historically accurate all while telling an entertaining, heart wrenching story. I highly recommend this to anyone! In my opinion, I believe it's Hannah's best yet!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I read a lot. It takes a whopper to grab my attention and keep it there….but of how I LOVE the books I can’t put down! I have told so many people to preorder this and buckle up. I have enjoyed several of Kristin Hannah’s other books but this one is my new fave. I went in pretty blind and I would recommend others do also. 5 stars my friends! Enjoy!

This was my first Kristin Hannah book and I fear I may be in the minority of not loving it. This one started in a very promising way and the parts in Vietnam were engaging and clearly well-researched.

The attitude towards the war was nuanced and progressed in a way that felt realistic through that timeline. Later on I felt like it glorified military service a bit much for my taste despite showing the negative sides as well. I agree with other reviewers that it could have been shortened and edited significantly. I was quite surprised that that I was only about 40% in when she returned home from two tours, and I found myself hoping she would return to war just because it was the better part of the book.

The strongest parts for me were in the depiction of female friendships, the dedication to the historical details, and seeing Frankie grow and come into her own as a confident nurse and woman during her time in Vietnam.

My gripes:

Her friendships were often one-sided- Barb and Ethel were gold star friends to Frankie but she rarely reciprocated in helping them.

The romantic drama- while the start of the romantic plot lines were compelling, the endings of all of them were predictable yet unrealistic; and the drama and trauma along the way felt trite and unnecessary. There were several ‘twists’ that I predicted and when they arrived I rolled my eyes and audibly said ‘of course’.


This book was a good listen (especially thanks to narrator Julia Whelan 👑) but could have been stronger if it had removed some romantic tragedy and focused more on Frankie’s growth and friendships throughout her wartime experience.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audio copy

THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah is a poignant exploration of the overlooked heroism of women in the Vietnam War, focusing on Frankie McGrath's journey as an Army nurse. Hannah's narrative beautifully captures the complexities of war, highlighting the sacrifices and commitment of forgotten heroines. Frankie's bravery amid the chaos and her struggles upon returning to a divided America evoke deep emotions. This novel, unique in spotlighting women in Vietnam, resonates with authenticity and emotional depth. Kristin Hannah's storytelling prowess shines, creating a memorable tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the resilience of women in the face of trauma. The characters are skillfully portrayed, and the bonds formed among them add a layer of richness to this emotionally charged narrative. "The Women" is another compelling addition to Hannah's impressive body of work.

I can honestly say this is the first book or audiobook I have read concerning the Vietnam War and that era.
This audiobook was one of the best I have listened to! The narrator is phenomenal! And Kristin Hannah’s story is almost too amazing to put into words. I have read every book she has done and feel the same way each time. No emotion is left untouched. No character is underrated. No scene is under done. Frankie is my favorite character, but her friends, Ethel and Barb are right there. Listening to this novel it feels like you are there with them, the jungle, the beach, the river, the operating room.
I will be shouting my recommendation for this book to anyone!! It is absolutely spectacular!!

I voluntarily listened to the audiobook provided by NetGalley.

Kristin Hannah best book by far, and I have read them all. It was an engaging book that I couldn’t turn off. It brought in all the issues of the Vietnam war and made you feel like you were there. I have told everyone I know to read/listen to this book. It should be required reading.