I couldn't wait to get my hands on Kristin Hannah's new novel, The Women, and I was very excited to start it.. It absolutely didn't disappoint. It has been a while since I looked up from a book and found out it was gone 1 a.m. - time just flew. Powerful, gripping and heartbreaking - I will never forget this book.
I was intrigued by the idea of a novel set during the Vietnam war in the 1960s/70s, as I was a kid at the time and I remember it. It provides a previously untold insight into the experiences of an Army nurse in a field hospital, and much more. A large section of the book explores what life was like for the women returning to a country they did not recognise, and where their service was not recognised. Both halves of the book were shocking in very different ways.
The three nurses we come to know and love were all so different but their bond and friendship is core to the book. Frankie is a rich Californian girl, Ethel is a farm girl from Virginia and Barb is a black young woman from Chicago who had an even bigger fight to fight on her return to the US. All of them were really good and complex characters.
Hannah always delivers and she has certainly done so again here. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all readers (men too) and it would be a brilliant Book Club read. If you only read one book this year - this is it!

This was my second Kristin Hannah novel and unfortunately it wasn't my favourite. This surprised me as I absolutely adored The Nightingale when I read it and remembered thinking how powerful the novel was.

What I enjoyed about this book was the vivid detail of the location and how you could see, smell and feel everything. Kristin Hannah has a knack for describing scenes in a simplistic yet beautiful way and it's what makes her books so great. With similar themes to the Nightingale, I love the key message that women played a big part in wars, despite rarely hearing their stories.

Where this book fell down for me was Frankie's character, the pacing and the the dialogue between characters. Frankie's reactions to things felt VERY mild considering what had occured and it all felt very unbelievable at times. As for the dialogue, it felt like I was watching a cheesy 2008 American war film. Cliché and very patriotic.

It was also incredibly predictable in parts... particularly the coming back from the dead scenarios.

Unfortunately this fell very flat for me and I struggled to get through it. I still really like Kristin Hannah as an author and I will pick up what she writes in the future. The Women was just not for me!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for a review.

This is a stunning achievement from Kristin Hannah. I've read several of her pre novels and feel she's a reliably 'good read'. This novel charting the journey of Frankie a nurse who joins the Army to serve in Vietnam is exceptional. I have seen the documentary 'letters home' in the BBC in 1987 and read the book with the letters from armed men and the nurses so was a little prepared but it is an emotional rollercoaster of a novel.

Read it knowing the history of the war ( the background to my childhood) and a box of tissues.

Highly recommend

Another fantastic novel by Kristin Hannah. She has to be my favourite author.
This book taught me things I never knew about the Vietnam War, and I am grateful for the education. Hannah's graphic descriptions had me right there with the main character, Frankie. I could see what she saw and felt her pain and emotions. I was reading with tears streaming down my face at what Frankie went though. The book is long, as are most of Kristin Hannah's books, but I didn't want it to ever end.

Huge thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC

"The Women" tells the story of a young American woman, a recent nursing graduate, who volunteers to go to Vietnam, following her older brother whom she adores, and with the intention of making her parents proud of her.
Kristin Hannah, with her masterful storytelling, weaves a story of drama and transformation divided into two very different parts. The first part of the book immerses us in the harsh realities of war, following Frankie's journey and her evolution from an innocent and well-meaning young girl to a person deeply affected by the horrific experiences she has lived through in the emergency room. In the second part we see Frankie's return to America, where she is greeted with hatred, her family is ashamed of her, and everyone urges her to forget her time in Vietnam. We witness her descent into hell and her painful recovery.
While reading the story I had my ups and downs with the story. First of all, Frankie's family background is not to my taste, as belonging to a wealthy family, whose only concerns are how the rest of society sees them, did not seem appealing to me at first. On the other hand, the trio of Frankie, Barb and Ethel in Vietnam is very powerful, and I would have liked the novel to be a choral one, dealing with the lives of the three of them on their return to their country.
However, having finished it a couple of days ago, and having let it rest, the truth is that the story has left a very good impression on me, although not at the level of other works by the author.
Many thanks to publisher Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy in return for an honest review.
"The Women", narra la historia de una joven americana, recién graduada en enfermería, que se hace voluntaria para ir a Vietnam, siguiendo a su hermano mayor al que adora, y con la intención de que sus padres se sientan orgullosos de ella.
Kristin Hannah, con su maestría narrativa, teje una historia de drama y transformación dividida en dos partes muy diferentes. La primera parte del libro nos sumerge en la cruda realidad de la guerra, siguiendo el viaje de Frankie y su evolución desde una joven inocente y bienintencionada hasta una persona profundamente afectada por las horribles experiencias que presencia y vive en la sala de urgencias. En la segunda parte vemos la vuelta de Frankie a Estados Unidos, donde la reciben con odio, su familia se avergüenza de ella, y todos la instan a que olvide su etapa en Vietnam. Somos testigos de su descenso a los infiernos y su dolorosa recuperación.
Mientras leía la historia tuve mis más y mis menos con la historia. En primer lugar el entorno familiar de Frankie no es de mi gusto pues que perteneciera a una familia rica, cuyas únicas preocupaciones fueran cómo los ve el resto de la sociedad, en principio no me parecía atractivo. Por otra parte el trío que forman Frankie- Barb- Ethel en Vietnam, es muy potente, y hubiera deseado que la novela fuera coral tratando las vidas de las tres en su vuelta a su país.
No obstante, habiéndolo terminado hace un par de días, y habiéndolo dejado reposar, lo cierto es que la historia me ha dejado muy buen sabor de boca, aunque no a la altura de otros trabajos de la autora.
Muchas gracias a la editorial Pan Macmillan y a NetGalley por facilitarme una copia digital a cambio de una reseña honesta.

Kristin Hannah is the writer of such amazing books as The Nightingale and The Four Winds so when I got the opportunity to read this book, I was very excited and it didn’t disappoint. This was very different to her other books. Very compulsive reading – I couldn’t put it down – but emotionally quite traumatic. It felt less like a novel, and more like a friend recounting their true like experiences of their time during the Vietnam war and the aftermath in the USA.

Frances ‘Frankie’ and her brother were extremely close, and lead very charmed lives. The men in the family were expected to do their duty, and so when her brother signed up and went to war in Vietnam, he was hailed a hero. When Frankie hears that women can be heroes too, she wants to make her father proud, and signs up to be a nurse in Vietnam, despite the fact that she has very little nursing experience in America. In Vietnam Frankie finds herself – she makes best friends for life, she finds she is an excellent theatre nurse, and she finds love – albeit within the backdrop of the most horrendous experiences of war. The problems really start when Frankie comes home. Terrifying nightmares, being spat on in the street, and with her parents ashamed of her service rather than proud of her. This was the truth, and reality of many women and men who came back from serving their country. Sometimes in life you have to hit rock bottom before you can claw your way back up.

A sometimes harrowing account of an army nurse’s time in the Vietnam war, and the aftermath. It shows the importance of best friends with shared experiences who will be there for you no matter what. All I can say is wow – this is the most incredible book and I recommend it as a ‘must read’.

Frankie is your regular twenty-year-old woman in the 1960s, on the path of becoming a nurse and soon getting married. All her life, she has heard about the men in her family serving the country and having their photo framed in their home on the wall called the hero’s wall. When her brother goes to serve in Vietnam, she hears an acquaintance tell her that ‘women can be heroes’, so she decides to join the Army Nurse Corps and go to Vietnam to serve her country. But Frankie has no idea what lies ahead of her.

I loved the way Kristin wrote about Frankie’s journey! The way she explored her ambitious naivety and her determination to help the injured comrades and deal with the cruelty of the war. My heart broke for the women serving in the war. I could feel Frankie’s emotional turmoil throughout, especially after she came back home from the war. The frustration she felt for the mistreatment of the veterans and when nobody believed her when she said she served in the war. She was baffled by the dismissal of their efforts and their pain. Frankie had to find herself in the patriarchy. She had to raise her voice to tell the world about the forgotten women who served in the war and how they weren't recognised.

I Love! Love! Love! the friendship between Ethel, Barb, and Frankie. This is what girl friendship is all about. I can read about them forever. It was beautiful to see them have each other's backs. They supported each other when there was no one to rely on. Everyone needs friends like Ethel and Barb in life.

The Women was brilliant! It was an emotional rollercoaster. This book explores so many topics like patriotism, hope, betrayal, friendships, PTSD, loneliness, death, and addiction, and it was dealt with beautifully. Everything was so well written. It's so good. I am having trouble expressing my thoughts. 'The Women' is the kind of book I would think about often.

Gripping. This stark and unflinching book transported me to the sights, smells and sounds of the carnage in Vietnam, and made me feel Frankie’s horror and bewilderment along with her.
Young Frankie McGrath holds herself to high standards. More than anything, she wants her parents to see her as heroic, like her brother and the other family members on her dad’s Heroes’ Wall. When she returns, traumatised after her experiences as a combat nurse, it practically breaks her to find her sacrifices seem to have been in vain. Far from being proud, she’s an embarrassment to them. Even her country is ashamed of its veterans who lost their youth and innocence along with their lives in the conflict. Male veterans and civilians alike refuse to acknowledge the contribution and losses of women who served.
If not for the selfless friendship of those women who served along with her, who knows where Frankie might have ended up? Ultimately she, her parents and her country need to learn, along with the veterans, the true cost of American foreign policy in Vietnam, and to find ways to begin healing.
This is a powerful book and one I will remember. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A thought provoking, powerful, engrossing story that will have you hooked as soon as you pick it up.

The Women is an amazing story about the women who played an important part in the Vietnam war as army nurses. How they coped during the war, how they were treated when they returned home, and the struggles they had to try and return to normal life.

Another knockout book from Kristin Hannah.

Thank you Netgalley.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6241292376

A really beautiful and moving book about the Vietnam war, as well as being a cracking read. I was emotional while reading it and teared up several times. 4.5 stars and it would have been 5 if the latter half, while still great, had lived up to the intensity of the first half. In short, one of my favourite books of the last few years and I will be reading more from the author shortly.

Thanks to her, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is Kristen Hannah’s best book yet. It’s a very well written story about Frankie McGrath’s time as a nurse in Vietnam and what happened when she got home. I’m old enough to remember the 1960s and 1970s but never realised how the veterans were treated on their return home. It’s brutal, gory and upsetting. But it’s a great story and one that tells it like it was. Well done.

I enjoyed this book a lot.

Part 1 was brilliant and reading about Frankie and how she grew as a young woman in ‘Nam and the bond of friendships she made while there was amazing.

Part 2, for me, was a little drawn out but still good.

This is an emotional read at times and I think would make a brilliant movie.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #PanMacmillan for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin Hannah's upcoming release, "The Women," is a poignant journey through the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War, seen through the eyes of twenty-year-old nursing student Frances McGrath. Raised in the idyllic setting of California's Coronado Island, Frankie's world is suddenly turned upside down by the chaos of war. Inspired by her brother's service in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurses Corps, embarking on a journey that will test her resilience and challenge her perceptions of heroism.

"The Women" offers a deeply emotional and informative journey through the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War, skilfully weaving together themes of sisterhood, found family, and the devastating impact of PTSD. Hannah's narrative is both heart-breaking and captivating, drawing readers into Frankie's evolution from a sheltered young woman to a resilient surgical nurse grappling with the harsh realities of war. The bond formed between Frankie and her fellow nurses, Ethel and Barb, serves as a beacon of hope amidst the turmoil of battle.

What sets "The Women" apart is its informative exploration of both sides of the Vietnam War debate. Through Frankie's experiences, readers gain insight into the complexities of the conflict, shedding light on the sacrifices and struggles faced by those on the front lines. Moreover, Hannah's portrayal of PTSD is both poignant and powerful, offering a raw and authentic depiction of the psychological toll of war. Frankie's journey towards healing serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of trauma.

Overall, "The Women" is a great read that combines emotional storytelling you can expect from Kristin Hannah with insightful exploration of historical events. Her focus on sisterhood, found family, and the portrayal of PTSD adds depth and complexity to the narrative, making it a compelling and thought-provoking novel. I didn’t find is as emotional as some of the other books by the same author, but enjoyed it immensely nevertheless.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC copy of ‘The Women’.

Headlines:
War in two halves
Invalidation of womens' experiences
Overcoming trauma

The Women charts a story I've never really thought much about before, probably because I'm not from the US, it occured before my birth and my terms of reference are classic films about the Vietnam war. I certainly hadn't thought about womens' experiences of this catastrophic war. There's no preaching in this read but Hannah did a superb job of highlighting the experiences of women, black men and women, PTSD and the ridiculous politics of the time. I could not put this book down.

Frankie was the protagonist at the heart of this story, a young registered nurse who volunteered as an army nurse, having little idea of what she was letting herself in for. She made two friends for life in Barb and Ethel. The narrative of the first half of this book had a brutality and rawness of words. There was anatomical gore, which I could handle thanks to my professional stomach and I appreciated that this aspect wasn't dumbed down; it had huge impact. Alongside the physicality of war, was an ever-present spotlight on how Frankie and others were impacted psychologically.

The second half of the book was important, because war wasn't over when the tour was. Frankie battled just to be able to exist with her losses, the trauma she was experiencing everyday and the disenfranchisement of her experiences from society and family. Frankie was a chaotic mess, very understandably and I actually found the second half of the book just as tense as the first half, just in a different way.

Love and loss were inexpicably linked in this story. My heart broke on a number of occasions for Frankie. The foreshadowing at some early parts in the book stayed with me as I read and I was not particularly surprised at some events but I was at others. I will leave those thoughts there for readers to discover for themselves.

This was a full tension, full angst ride of a read but full to the brim of feelings. I cried near the beginning and I cried at the end seeing some sense of validation for these women. Such a powerful read that I highly recommend.

Thank you PanMacmillan for the review copy.

Superb, stunning, powerful. Those 3 words are really not enough praise for this book.

You start to read and find that you have lost a couple of hours at a time. So engrossing and thought provoking.

Women in Vietnam were not , are not talked about, but as this book shows the band of friendship made whilst working in the most arduous conditions, shines above everything.

Outstanding writing, superb.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book.

What a powerful story, I had no idea about the fight that women went through when they returned to America from the Vietnam war. The first part of the book was harrowing in its depiction of what the hospital and aid stations were like during the war but the treatment of veterans when they returned was awful. I’m so glad that this book has been able to shine a light on the untold story of the women who went to war.

Kristin Hannah certainly knows how to take a sledgehammer to your heart and she is NOT afraid to do it.

Hannah's reads are so powerful and harrowing that I can forgive a few negatives, like here I think the major plot points of the story are quite predictable-- yet they still hit me like a ton of bricks, their impact not lessened by the fact I'd seen them coming. Maybe this one was easier to predict as I'm getting used to the author's formula. Her novels take us to vastly different times and places but she uses similar tricks to engage the reader. I’m not complaining: it works.

This book is an epic on women in the Vietnam War. Hannah introduces us to bright-eyed and naive nurse Frances "Frankie" McGrath, who longs for a place on her father's "Hero's Wall" and so volunteers for service in Vietnam.

It is an understatement to say she didn't know what she was getting into. Frankie finds herself in hell on Earth, struggling to help put together men who have been blown apart, watching Vietnamese children die from napalm burns, losing friends for a cause none of them even understand. Those sensitive to graphic depictions of injuries should steer clear-- as a nurse in Vietnam, Frankie witnesses some of the most horrific things in our world.

But this is not just a story about the war itself. It is a story of a young woman's growth, aging impossibly in a short amount of time. Her friends, Barb and Ethel, keep her spirits up at the worst times, and the funny dialogue between them is a major highlight of the novel. She falls in love and this, too, gives her hope for the future.

Only half of this story is set in Vietnam; the other half is about coming home and living afterwards. It's not easy to say which one is more difficult. There was no hero's welcome for those returning from Vietnam. Veterans were cursed at and spat on. Many were left with irreparable damage from their time in the war. For some, it was the loss of a limb. For many, it was the loss of something harder to explain. While psychiatric help began to be offered, it was typically for male veterans.

As with several of Hannah's other books, she once again shines a light on the women who have been erased from history. The female veterans she spoke with for this book told her how they often heard "There were no women in Vietnam." I cannot even imagine how it must feel to risk your life, sacrifice your youth and peace of mind, and be told that it didn't even happen.

Another horrible, ugly, powerful book from one of my must-read authors.

I've read everyone of Kristin Hannah's novels and to say that I was incredibly excited to read The Women was an understatement.
The Women is set in America during the time when the Vietnam war took place and it focuses on Frankie McGrath. Frankie lives an idyllic life with her parents and older brother. Frankie's parents are very focussed on how they appear to their country club friends and when her older brother Finley enlists to serve in the war, Frankie's parents throw him a going away party. However, after Finleys death, Frankie enlists as an army nurse to serve in the war, but she does not get the same reception at home as Finley did..
The novel is set in both Vietnam where Frankie sees horror after horror. She makes friends and falls in love....twice. Her time is up and she returns home but Frankie is appalled by how America treats its veterans especially the nurses, it's as though they have been erased from history.

The Women doesn't read like Hannah's other novels, there is less focused on love and relationships and she really brings the atrocities of war to life. I enjoyed this adaptation of writing style and absolutely loved The Women.

“Women were not in ‘Nam” Yes, they were and this latest book by Kristin Hannah tells their story. Like all of her other novels, it’s a book about the strength of women, the bonds of friendship and love in its various forms. I stayed up into the early hours reading about the lives of Frankie, Barb and Ethel. Another Kristin Hannah book I couldn’t put down.

I have read manymkristin Hannah books but this one just blew me away. Wow. There are no words really to describe this story. The first half is not for the faint hearted as it is very graphic but it is the only way to tell the true horrors of what these people went through and how they suffered for many years.