I’ve seen this book about quite a lot recently and when I saw it I had to read it.

This book, although fictional, is based on true events and is extremely well researched with the author interviewing men and women who served their time in Vietnam.

It takes you on a woman’s journey as she follows her brother into Vietnam to help save the men fighting in the war. As a nurse her job is a vital one but one that when stepping into the country she is ill prepared for. The book is monumentally emotional and I’ve cried numerous times at Frankie’s pain, loves and losses. I myself have learned lots about the Vietnam war and all its many casualties. I didn’t realise how bad the veterans were originally treated on their return home and I found it utterly heartbreaking. The women particularly had a rough break, something I could never imagine dealing with or putting up with but of course times have changed.

An epic read that I highly recommend but make sure you have a box of tissues to hand because I guarantee you’ll need them!

And what women they were!
Novel starts in California in 1967, a seemingly spoilt girl Frankie belongs to the perfect, moneyed family along with her Idolised older brother Finlay. Frankie worships Finlay, dresses to please her social climbing Mother and respects her Father.
Finlay like a lot of boys his age joins up to fight in Vietnam, the family are proud of him, until the heart-breaking news arrives of his death with no remains to be buried. Everyone deals with this news in their own way, Frankie enrols to be a nurse, her Mother drinks more than usual and her Father keeps his grief to himself.
Frankie can not get over her brothers death and thinks of him constantly, she decides to go to Vietnam as a nurse, her parents object. When Frankie arrives in Vietnam, she is thrown into the deep end, helping with casualties and becoming an O.T. nurse, dealing with horrific injuries and comforting dying men. She is sharing a hut with Barb and Ethel, both experienced nurses who look after her. The heat, dust, dirt, and the constant shifts are just some of the mind numbing conditions they encounter. Frankie falls for Jamie a Surgeon but upon finding out he is engaged breaks up with him, when news comes of his death she is devastated. The three girls try to enjoy their off duty time and forge an enduring friendship. Frankie meets someone else Rye, who she plans to meet when she gets home.
The story of Frankie's and other Veterans homecoming is shocking, and difficult for them. The attitude towards the Nurses and other women who went to Vietnam is that Women did not serve, so they are invisible with no help available for them.
This book was so descriptive in its detail of emotions, injuries and injustice, it will stay with me for a long time.
Thank you Kristen and NetGalley

This is yet another amazing book by Kristin Hannah but one I found very hard to read due to the intense war zone scenes.

Siblings, Finlay and Frances "Frankie" McGrath are living charmed lives in a walled and gated community on Coronado Island in San Diego. Their parents are leading lights in the community and one wall of their beautiful home is devoted to family history with photos of their ancestors who have done great and good things including many soldiers. It is the late 1960s and Finlay, a Naval Academy graduate, is set to join the 'great and good' photos on the wall as he sets off to fight for his country in Vietnam.

Frankie, who is training as a nurse, decides to make her family proud and signs up to go to Vietnam too. Her parents are horrified and beg her to change her mind. They see military service as a male thing only.

Frankie does go to Vietnam and quickly makes two close friends in nursing colleagues Ethel and Barb. She also falls in love with some men but with heartbreaking consequences given the jeopardy the military face every day in Vietnam. I had to skim read the first half of the book as the medical situations that Frankie was in are very graphic and upsetting. I really couldn't stomach any more scenes of people turning up in Frankie's care clutching detached and bloodied limbs or napalmed children. It was too much gore. I almost gave up reading the book because of this but decided to skim read until the narrative moved back to California for the second half of the book.

The main story here was that there'd been a huge shift in the opinion of the American public during the late 60s regarding this war. Those returning were not considered heros but quite the opposite for having been involved in a war that so many were protesting against. The homecoming and subsequent years were even harder for the women, mostly nurses, returning as the general opinion was that 'there were no women in Vietnam'. This was a constant refrain in the book.

I am assuming that Kristin's Hannah's writing of the harsh homecoming those returning from Vietnam got, especially the women, is historical fact. I can't stomach reading more on this topic but assume it is indeed what happened.

Having visited Coronado Island a few times since my first visit in 1981 I was a little confused as to the many mentions of 'the ferry' as there is a magnificent bridge to get there from the main part of San Diego. It only dawned on me part way through the book that this bridge was only built and opened in the late 1960s - hence the many ferry mentions as that was the only transportation back and forth then. The ferry is still running to this day to my interest. I must go on that if ever I have the good fortune to visit Coronado Island again in my life. It is a beautiful place.

It's a great story, in Kristin Hannah's very talented style but I was a very hard read for me with the blood and gore. I did enjoy the second half a lot and loved the ending. With thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have not read anything by this author before, so had no expectations. The considerable hype and the blurb drew me in, but sadly this book fell very short for me.
I could not connect with the privileged, self- centred Frankie, who men instantly fall in love with, she comes across as shallow and two dimensional. Having joined up to nurse in Vietnam in her naive wish to join her recently enlisted brother there, she instantly regrets her rash decision, before she even arrives in Vietnam.
The harrowing description of the hell- hole that is the medical camp, just goes on and on, in unremitting horror.
The entire narrative is overly descriptive, and I speed read through it. I wasn’t sufficiently interested in reading Frankie’s story, nor did I care if she achieved her goal of making her parents as proud of her as they were of her brother. The title is a misnomer, as it’s really just about one woman, Frankie. The others are incidental to her story. Not for me, this one.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

3.5 stars

"The Women" started of strong and I really enjoyed the first half of the novel, but the second half was somewhat of a let down. Because the book covered such a long timespan it felt rather rushed in some places. The ending also felt a little too unrealistic for my tastes.

A fantastic book which I devoured. I loved the story about a young girl who decides she wants to go to Vietnam to nurse the wounded during the Vietnam War in the Sixties. I was right there as I read it and couldn't get enough of it. Highly recommend. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

What a rollercoaster of a book! The Women has hidden depths and will take you to dark places but it also has humour, family, love and sisterhood. The women who went out to Vietnam are usually airbrushed out of history and this story puts them firmly back in the forefront. Times and morals were different in the 1960s and Kristen Hannah has done a great job of capturing the changing attitudes of the time. A great read!

Fantastic!!! The Women is a rollercoaster read, bringing to life the forgotten women who courageously served during the Vietnam war. At times a hard read as Kristin Hannah does not shy away from the brutality of war and its effects on the people involved, shocking also with how the veterans were treated upon their return to America.
This book made me laugh, made me angry, made me smile and made me cry - I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read The Women.

This book is exactly why I read. The sort of story that grips you and you just can’t stop thinking about when you have to put it down.

I didn’t know much about the Vietnam war and am so glad of the opportunity to learn more.

This book has all the feels that we expect from a Kristin Hannah. The bond you feel with the characters, the feeling of dread that things cannot carry on and everything will come tumbling down.

I fear this book has spoiled me for future reads. 5* read from me.

My first book by this author and it definitely deserves the 5 star review I’m giving it. I literally couldn’t put it down. Not an easy read for sure, it made me laugh and also made me cry. I didn’t know too much about the history of the Vietnam war and this was viewing it from a different perspective. Read this- you won’t be disappointed.

I’ve read a lot of Kristin Hannah and this is my favourite book so far! The Women follows Frankie McGrath, a young woman from a life of privilege in the time of the Vietnam War. Her brother and his friend, Rye, inspire her to sign up as a nurse in service. I won’t spoil it for anyone but as you can imagine, Frankie endures 2 years of hell whilst in Vietnam and inevitably comes back a shell of her former self. What makes it worse is that the idea of women in service is either laughable or easily deniable to majority of Americans, making it even harder for Frankie to get the help she needs. This book is a fantastic historical account of the Vietnam war, written in a perspective I hadn’t considered before.

Wow. I normally write my reviews straight after finishing a book, but I had to let this one wash over me before I could even formulate my thoughts about it.

I’ve rated each of the three Kristin Hannah books I’ve read so far 5 stars and there is a reason for that: this author can literally do no wrong. Her writing is just so special and the perfect escapism every time ♥️

The Women is an incredibly hard-hitting and vitally important tale of the heroic part that women played in the Vietnam War and the unforgivable way in which they were pushed aside and forgotten about. We are taken back in time to 60s America; JFK has not long been assassinated and endless American troops are being sent to Vietnam in an attempt to battle communism. Among those heading to Vietnam is Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a young woman from a wealthy family whose desire is to follow in her brother Finley’s footsteps into the war, as an army nurse.

Frankie’s journey is unthinkable, it blew my mind to imagine so much happening to just one person and I was brought to tears multiple times throughout her story - this is definitely a book that requires you to have tissues on hand 😭

There was so much I adored about The Women: Frankie the badass MC and her unwavering quest to become a hero, the beautiful female friendships she forms especially with Barb and Ethel, the non-stop action which had me flipping pages as quickly as possible and the incredibly vivid and compelling portrayal of life on the frontline and the issues post-war veterans face. Also, that ending 🥲 had me choked up good and proper, be prepared!

I don’t feel like there is anyone better than Kristin Hannah who could write about such important topics and bring them to life in that magical way she does. An easy 5 star read that will stay with me for a long, long time.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan & Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Women is a huge contender for top best books of 2024 and we are only in February. It is full of emotions of what it means war, friendship and grief. This is a book that shows the what it means to be a woman in a man's world, more specifically in the '60s and '70s, but also the long journey and the ups and downs to finding oneself. I loved everything from the characters and their evolution and decisions to the plot and the writing style of the book.
Kristin Hannah wrote another book to add to my shelf.

An engrossing and fast-paced coming-of-age historical drama about a young girl who goes to Vietnam without realizing what she's doing and ends up becoming a woman (with plenty of issues). A great novel about war, friendship, changing and evolving, post-traumatic disorder and the continuous tribulations that women face every day. I loved Frankie's evolution and was sad to see her struggle with addiction and PTSD. Realistic and poignant.

Wow! I absolutely devoured this book, I knew very little about the Vietnam war as it was a little before my time but this story has got my so interested.
Frankies character was so relatable and all the emotions she felt I felt too, I laughed and cried and enjoyed every second of this book and I thought the ending was perfect. A new author to me but I was 100 % be looking for other books by her. This is definitely a contender for one of the best books I have read
Thank you

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan McMillan for the ARC of this book.
I love Kristin Hannah books they are all very moving and tug at the heartstrings. This book was moving but didn’t tug as much as the others. Although it was called” The Women” it was very much about one woman only who wasn’t that likeable. Everytime anything went wrong she didn’t seem to try very hard herself just relied on others to help her out. Would like to have found out more about Ethel and Barb and the war in Vietnam itself as I was a teenager myself during that time and took very little notice then.
It always amazes me how authors write about the diverse subjects that they cover with so much insight, it must take a lot of investigation into the proposed book.
Look forward to see what subject Kristin Hannah covers next.

I was excited to read the latest novel by this author she never disappoints and this book definitely did not . An unusual take on the Vietnam war from the side of The Women that served . Focusing on the friendship of Frankie Ethel and Barb although a hard subject of war and the horrors that were faced this book will stay with me for a long time . I would thoroughly recommend this book which is a stand out read

“Women can be heroes too”
When Frankie, a 20 year old nursing student hears these words, it’s an inspiration.
It’s 1965 and times are changing and she suddenly sees a new different plan for her life - joining the Army Nurses Corps and serving in Vietnam.
She is overwhelmed by seeing the destruction of war first hand, which has far reaching consequences when she returns back home.
A very moving and impactful novel, showing the realities of war from a female perspective
Looks at the politics of war and the lack of support for veterans when they return home.
The characters were so emotive and captivating, could easily see it translating to the big screen.
Thanks @kristinhannahauthor, @panmacmillan & @netgalley for the amazing read

The Women is a graphic, emotional story of a young nurse who volunteers to serve the US Army during the Vietnam War. I know the after effects of this war still haunts the American nation and the author paints a brutal picture of the debt a generation of men and women paid. The novel deserves to be made into a film. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

To say I was hooked and couldn't put this down is an understatement. I read it in 24 hours and couldn't stop thinking about Frankie and her story. What a fascinating but heartbreaking recount of the women who served in the Vietnam War. I have always adored Kristin Hannah's writing, and The Women is another 5 star read for me without a doubt. Thank you #netgalley for the arc.