I have never read any Kristin Hannah before and unfortunately this one fell flat for me. It did not feel like a war-time historical fiction but rather like a soap opera version of that. What did not sit well with me was the first half of the novel where our protagonist Frankie is in Vietnam. We are constantly told how much Frankie has changed in her time as a combat nurse however we never really got to know her before she joined the Army; I felt like her main character trait was simply "nurse." I also felt like this could have taken place in any war in any country; we are not given many specifics about politics or combat surrounding what may be the US's most controversial war. For example, one scene Frankie treats a mass casualty resulting from the Tet Offensive but we are not given any details on how major that was for the war. There are several romantic story lines while Frankie is in country which weakened the novel for me.

The second half of the novel I enjoyed much more and felt like I really got to understand Frankie and her upbringing. Hannah does an great job describing Frankie's PTSD and I truly believed this was the case for many returning from Vietnam.

Overall, I'm glad I read this novel although I may have been expecting a little more Full Metal Jacket.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC!

Moving, heartfelt, informative, educational, touching, I couldn’t put this down, Hannah, once again writes a beautiful novel, and brings characters to life.

“That was the starting and ending point in life: love. The journey was everything in between.”

WOW, did I love this journey! My new favorite @kristinhannahauthor book! Eye-opening, informative, & heart breaking. This book captivated me from the beginning & held me until the end. I love the way she can tell a story & give a history lesson at the same time.

Frankie enrolls herself as a nurse in the Vietnam War. She wants to make her dad and country proud. What she gets upon returning home is feelings of shame from her family and the rest of the public. The women that joined the war efforts as nurses, doctors, journalists or in other jobs were not recognized or even mentioned as war heroes or veterans. While Frankie made some poor choices in this novel (even before coming home from the war), I still liked reading her story and cried along with her several times.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Many thanks to @macmillan.audio for this listening copy. If you’re a listener of audiobooks then you know the Queen of narration is Julia Whelan and she is excellent with this one! Also thanks to @bookofthemonth for making this a February pick. You know I needed a hard copy for myself.

Kristin Hannah is a must-read author for me but I also know going in to her books she is probably going to rip me apart along the way and just hope I don't leave the world she creates utterly destroyed. The Women made me feel all of the emotions and fully immersed me in the setting and story of the book. It was a tough read to know this was real-life and to be able to see the struggles of the women of the vietnam war.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who would not be triggered but fully realize this book is one that may be too vivid for some.

Julia Whelan, as always, gave an amazing performance and I highly recommend the audio for fans of audiobooks.

Wow! Just Wow! I am so impressed with this book, the saga of a Vietnam War Army Nurse. The narration made it so real, and one really gets the sense of what it was like to work as a surgical nurse during the war. We get a realistic view of the heartache of lost loved ones and the complicated relationships. And, most striking, was the depiction of how veterans, and particularly female veterans, were treated when they returned to the US. The struggles they experienced when trying to adjust to civilian life were described in detail and not romanticized. This book has everything: history, family relationships, relationships between friends and lovers, and complicated politics of the time. It is so well-written and the narration is stellar. You've got to read (or listen to) this book!

I am grateful to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing the advance review copy of this audiobook.

This book might have been titled “The Woman” as it basically follows the life of Frances “Frankie” McGrath during the Vietnam War era and beyond. Frankie has lived a sheltered life in Coronado, California. When her brother joins the army and is headed to Vietnam, she decides to enlist as well - as a nurse as there are no women in combat roles at the time. Her dream of following him is shattered when he is killed in action before she even reaches Vietnam. After an all too short training period, she ships out and is immediately enveloped by the chaos of the war, the gruesomeness of war injuries and violent attacks on her base, and the camaraderie of her fellow nurses and medical personnel. But this is also a book that goes beyond being “in theater.” As those of us who lived through the 1960’s and 1970’s know, it was a difficult time in our history - the unpopular war spurred protests as well as a total lack of respect for those who served. The book follows Frankie’s journey from her time of service through the unraveling of her personal life to the unveiling of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D. C.

As always, Kristin Hannah has written a captivating historical novel that captures the mood of the country during these tumultuous years. While not taking away from this book in any way, I did find myself getting tired of Frankie at times only to be whipped back by surprise after surprise. Perhaps a little more beyond her would have helped me raise my rating to 5 stars.

My review is based on an “ARC” of the audiobook - the narration, so important when listening to a book, was superb. My thanks to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to “read” and review this novel.

"The Women" by Kristin Hannah resonates as a profoundly moving masterpiece, earning a resounding 5-star rating and a perfect 10/10 recommendation. Its narrative truth, enriched by the author's poignant storytelling and the raw power imbued in each word, is nothing short of breathtaking.

My anticipation for "The Women" soared as a dedicated follower of Kristin Hannah's work, and receiving an advance copy of the audiobook, expertly narrated by the incomparable Julia Whelan, felt like a stroke of luck. Listening to Whelan's rendition, I sensed an added layer of magic infused into the storytelling, elevating the experience beyond expectation. It's hard to imagine I could have appreciated the book as deeply had I read it myself.

At the heart of the narrative lies Frankie McGraph, a young woman thrust into the chaos of war in search of her brother, only to discover her own journey of self-discovery amidst the tumult of Vietnam. Frankie's perspective unflinchingly exposes the harsh reality of how women were treated during the war, often rendered invisible. As the story unfolds, transitioning to the aftermath of war, the portrayal of marches and the struggles faced by returning veterans sheds light on a poignant and often overlooked aspect of history.

Hannah's narrative is unapologetically honest, offering a raw and devastating portrayal of the military experience, allowing readers, like myself, with limited knowledge of this era, to grasp its complexities with clarity and empathy. "The Women" stands as a testament to resilience, courage, and the enduring human spirit, inviting readers to bear witness to a slice of history with profound relevance and universal understanding.

Great writing and research went into this untold story of the men and women that served in Vietnam. This was a truly heartbreaking read. Would definitely recommend The Women! Thanks NetGalley for the audio eArc.

As we say in the book reviewing world, your favorites are the hardest to review. And for me, the ones the hit me hard in the heart are super hard to review as well. Even after a week, I’m struggling to get my thoughts together, but this book hasn’t left my mind. There are rave reviews everywhere, so I’ll just tough on the things that personally hit me the hardest.

• The nursing. Most of you know I am a nurse (NP now), but I spent 17 years in the hospital ICUs and ER. While I don’t pretend to have any clue what these combat nurses went through, Hannah’s words hit home for me. The feeling when multiple traumas are coming at you and you know there won’t be enough hands to care for everyone. Watching people die and being with them during that process, sometimes when they have no one else is powerful. It never leaves you. I can’t even fathom what these nurses went through in Vietnam.

•THEN, to come home and have people deny you were even there! Criminal. I was so pissed. 1. At myself that I didn’t know this story. 2. That I live in a country that allowed this.

•I loved the friendship. When you go through trauma with a coworker, you are bonded for life. I loved the lifetime of support this friendship offered.

•There are extremely heavy themes of PTSD and mental health, on page trauma and death. So many triggers. It is HEAVY. Read with care and reach out for specifics if needed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️All the stars for this one. It will be with me forever.

@justjuliawhelan ‘s narration as the voice of Frankie is absolute perfection.

The Women is one of Kristen Hannah’s finest! Based between 1960s and the 1980s, the Women sheds light on the painful experience women who went to war in Vietnam faced including the very belief that “there were no women in Vietnam.” I love Hannah’s ability to draw her readers into the story and educate us on important topics and historical events. She did it again! Such a good story of pain, loss, grief, and resilience.

Similar to all Kristin Hannah books, The Women was extremely engaging and kept me quickly turning the pages. We always think of the men who were forced to fight in the Vietnam war and the atrocities they encountered there, but what about the heroic women who also chose to bravely serve their country? Seeing this terrible war from their perspective was not only eye-opening, but extremely frustrating due to the lack of understanding and resources available to them. This harrowing novel really brought into focus all the struggles female veterans faced at the time.

My only minor complaints would be that a few parts felt a little repetitive and the last quarter was mildly soap opera-ish.

I listened to the audiobook, which was performed by my favorite narrator: Julia Whelan. She can do no wrong in my eyes and once again, she nailed this one!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy!

Another Kristin Hannah book that should be read with a box of tissues at your side! Love that this talked about the women who served in Vietnam. Another fantastic read by this author!

Gawwwww. She does it again! I want to thank St. Martin’s Press on NetGalley for sharing the audiobook with me. It is such an immersive story and the audio really amped that up to 100! I am still thinking about these characters and fear I will for awhile now. The descriptions of war that Hannah provides while still maintaining the Women at the center are so powerful. Not only that, but she manages to tell a full story with the parts, spanning Frankie’s life. I loved the friendships explored, the relationships explored through romance and family, and the exploration of how we as a society see different historical moments. As always, Kristin Hannah excels while writing sprawling war epics.

⭐️𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍: 𝐀 𝟓 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓-𝐁𝐔𝐘 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝟐/𝟔/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒⭐️

Kristin Hannah, author of the Nightingale, strikes again by shedding light on the political turmoil in the 1960s and the women who served in Vietnam. The Women is a deeply moving, brilliant novel!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten. A novel of searing insight and lyric beauty, The Women is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose extraordinary idealism and courage under fire define a generation.’

At times, this book was heartbreaking to read but I am so grateful to authors like Kristin Hannah who use their amazing talent to not only give us a powerful story, but one that also teaches us about the past we would otherwise be ignorant to.

I think The Nightingale or The Great Alone (it’s a close tie for me) will forever be my favorite KH novels. Do you have a favorite Kristin Hannah novel? If so, drop it in the comments🖤

This is a great book by Kristin Hannah
She is a wonderful writer and all of her books are goog but this one was great. It keeps your interest the entire time. Can wait for the next book,!

This is an exceptional book. I really enjoyed it. I think it’s a really important read for everyone. I have family members who came back from Vietnam and were treated so poorly. This was really well researched. I really enjoyed the narrator also.

I was very excited to receive an Advanced Listeners Copy from NetGalley and MacMillan Audio because I had heard so much buzz about this book! This book captivated me from the first chapter and I couldn’t put it down. I even listened to the last 40% of the book twice to make sure I didn’t miss one detail. Kristin Hannah is such a gifted storyteller and she writes compelling historical fiction. I don’t read/listen to a lot of historical fiction, but I’m so glad I listened to this book. My dad served in the Army during the Vietnam War, but was not in combat. This book helped me understand why he rarely talks about his time served. I have recommended this book to everyone I know.

War in Vietnam.. the women who served but wasn't credited. This story pulled me right in. Sad and scary. War is hardship and war shouldn't have happened. Nurses and doctors are as crucial as the ones at the frontline.

Finley volunteered and his dad was proud. Frankie loved her brother and thought what's better than to volunteer herself in the nursing unit to have a chance to see her brother. Her parents were upset instead of proud. Fresh out of school with little real life experience, Frankie heads off for 'Nam. Before she went, bad news arrived. She couldn't back out of her obligations now so she went. The horror she saw and the unexpected sights she encountered at war overwhelmed her.

As war raging on, Frankie saw the injured daily and worked long hours. She saw deaths both the young American soldiers and the Vietnamese civilians. She saw the innocent kids lost their lives in this war.

She came home after two harrowing years of service only to be spat on and unwelcome by her parents and everyone. In US, there were protests and unrests for the war. Frankie was having trouble adjusting back to life. When she seek help at the center for veterans, they told her that she didn't belong because she didn't fight in war. Many people were oblivious that there were women in war.

As time moved forward, readers saw the changes in Frankie's life and the change in war and attention towards veterans.

Despite the sad topic, there are some humor and love as well as love troubles.

This is my third read from the author. As always, well written and got me feeling many emotions!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read and review.

The Women by Kristin Hannah was my first Kristin Hannah masterpiece and it won’t be my last. I enjoyed the depth of this story I felt I lived it right along side Frankie. The audiobook was great and allowed me to feel more connected to the characters thanks to a talented narrator.

We always think of the men who were forced to go to war in Vietnam and the absolute horror they encountered there. But what about the women? The incredibly brave women, who chose to serve their country and its military? This is the story of many told through the lense of one young woman who made the decision to follow her brother to war. To serve her family and country, and make them proud. To be a hero.

Hannah’s heroine, Frankie McGrath, joins the Army Nurse Corps and heads to Vietnam. We see the horrors she and everyone there experienced. But when she arrives home, like many, many Vietnam vets she is spat upon and called a baby killer. Friends and family shut her down when she tries to talk about her experience in Vietnam and the VA turns her away, when she goes to them for help because she is a woman; not a man who saw combat. This was one of the most heartbreaking parts of the story for me. The same government and military these women served, turning their backs on them because they didn’t have the same experience as the men.

This is a story of women. It’s the all too familiar scenario of women being treated as lesser than, because they are not men. It’s about the lack of opportunities women have long suffered from and the lack of understanding and help in women’s health. But it is also another example of what we all know to be true; “Women Can Be Heroes!”