When recently qualified nurse Frankie attends her brother’s Naval going away party, little does she dream that it’ll be the start of her very own military journey, taking her on a roller coaster ride to experience the highs of love and friendship, the depths of hell which come with loss, and Vietnam.

Signing up as an army nurse simply because she didn’t yet have the prerequisite experience required for Naval or Airforce nursing deployments, naive Frankie is keen to follow in her brother’s footsteps and join him “in country”. She soon finds that in contrast to them having thrown a party to celebrate her hero brother having signed up, Frankie’s parent’s disapproval of her enlistment is evident from the moment she announces it- giving her the first glimpse of the inequality she will face not only from friends and family, but society as a whole.

With the horrors of working in the field hospitals uniting them, Frankie’s firm friendship with Barb & Ethel will not only help her through her time in Vietnam, but be critical to her surviving her post-war PSTD period- which is just as dangerous. Struggling to cope with the realities of war, life is no easier for Frankie upon her return to “the world” where her family and society struggle to admit that she was ever in Vietnam. Inaccessibility of the help available to male veterans instead leaves Frankie reliant on the enduring support of her friends, whilst likely suffering themselves, to survive her demons and work out how to navigate towards any sort of positive future.

Dedicated to all the women who were in Vietnam during the war but whose presence there was unknown to many until years later, for those who know little about the war or this aspect of it, Kristen Hannah’s “The Women” is an illuminating journey into both the horrors of the war itself and the horrors these women faced when they got home.

Coming from the UK, I’ve never learned about the Vietnam war (other than the glimpses I’ve seen in films etc) but this book was the best kind of historic fiction- the sort which made me go away with a yearning to learn more about the facts behind it & sending me down the research rabbit hole. I simultaneously loved and loathed reading this book- loved it for the window into another time and place, loathed the picture I saw when I better understood the effect that time & place had on people…And that’s exactly what a well written book should be able to do.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for a free digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you for this ARC. Kristin Hannah knows how to reach out to the reader of her books. This is a story so enlightening, gutsy, sad, for the main character Frankie who becomes a nurse during the Vietnam war. A real eye opener as to what happened during that time and the aftermath of it. I couldn’t put it down and cried at some of the situations. Would thoroughly recommend this book.

"No women served in Vietnam" was a statement levelled by many American 'vets' of the Vietnam war at the women who were indeed there. In this sweeping novel, we follow the story of "Frankie' McGrath, a young woman from a privileged southern Californian background who rushes off to volunteer as a nurse, following the death of her brother at a young age in Vietnam.

This is historical fiction at its best. Suddenly you are there, discovering just what it was like to be a woman out in 'Nam, dealing with the horrendous casualties of both American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians. Frankie signs up for a second tour and later, looking back, she says in effect, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. She and her two close female friends support one another in "Nam and then later when they are each back in the States. And the result of Frankie's two tours (the other women only did one), her deep emotional attachments to a couple of men she meets, and the horrors she deals with, is that she returns with severe PTSD. But as no women served in Vietnam, no-one wants to know or to offer her support, especially not her parents, each in their own way mourning the son lost in the fighting and each ashamed of what their daughter has done and is doing on her return.
Frankie becomes caught up in the peace demonstrations of the late sixties and early seventies of the last century; the time of flower power, stop the war campaigns, bring them home slogans - and President Nixon. And still she is supported by her two friends, Ethel and Barb; the threesome survives in spite of the physical and social distances in the US.

It is a moving tribute to the solidarity of female friendship, to the courage of those who served in Vietnam, to the futility of war. This sweeping novel brings the era alive and I found it enthralling. I confess I read it late into the night, and once finished couldn't stop thinking about the realities portrayed in this fictionalised war story. I'm recommending it to my friends. It's one of the best books I've read in a while and is Kristen Hannah at her very best.

𝙰𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔

When Frankie’s brother is sent to Vietnam she decides to join the Army Nurse Corps to follow his path, hoping to make her father proud who has a wall of heroes in his study. Before she leaves however her brother is killed…. In Vietnam she has to work long shifts in tough circumstances while witnessing soldiers being wounded beyond imagining. Bit by bit her confidence and skills grow however and she never felt so useful before. When she finally returns home after 2 years her world falls apart. Not only does she struggle to deal with all her experiences, the nation does not respect all her work in Vietnam because they condemn the war. She has to find a way to give life meaning again and accept that she’ll never be the girl she was before the war again…..

𝙼𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔

I just finished this novel and am so in awe. Of course I had knowledge about the war in Vietnam but this story will teach you so much more, and most importantly tell you about the women who served in Vietnam and are often forgotten or just not mentioned. Frankie’s PTSD is so well portrayed , I had to shed a few tears reading the last chapters. The book is well-researched and teaches you not only about the war but also about the years after and how the public reacted to soldiers returning home. Although I loved the ending it did seem a bit far fetched to me, especially after an earlier twist I didn’t see coming (wow it’s hard not to give spoilers), but I love happy endings ;)

In her latest offering, Kristin Hannah throws a much needed light and focus on the invisible and forgotten women of the Vietnam war, a thought provoking account related through the emotionally charged and traumatising war experiences of Frances 'Frankie' McGrath, who grew up in a privileged and conservative environment of Coronado Island, California. After her older brother goes to serve in Vietnam, she is inspired to follow in his footsteps and do the unthinkable, in a changing and turbulent world, enlisting with the Army Nurse Corps, but without the support of her parents. Needless to say, having come from a sheltered background, Vietnam is an unimaginable shock to the system, the horrors of what Frankie sees prove to be shattering at the time and long after her return home.

The devastating chaotic mayhem, with Frankie dropped right in the middle of the terror, the unbearable living conditions, the explosions, the heartbreak, the huge loss of life and dreadful injuries sustained by shell shocked, broken soldiers, having to care for them and save as many as possible, all on a constant daily basis. There are harrowing medical decisions made, all this inevitably is going to be challenging and bone deep traumatising. Supportive relationships are the crux of surviving, and Frankie makes strong connections with Barb and Ethel, that endure long after the end of the war. On their return, they come back to a different and divided nation, of protests, and people desperate to forget the war. Whilst the part by soldiers is recognised and services provided for PTSD and more, the women's role is denied, there is no support, and they are rendered invisible.

What follows for Frankie and the brave women, we see the mental health issues, difficult familial ties, alcoholism, drugs, self medication, etc.. It is the relationships that help to hold them together and pick them up when everything is falling apart around them. The US unforgivably abandoned the women in the war who did incredible work out in Vietnam, as though they had never existed. Hannah gives us a well researched blend of historical fact and fiction, she does a grand job in revealing this lost history and bringing this to the attention of American and global audiences today. I recommend this to all readers, I think it will particularly appeal to those who love historical fiction and the history of women in war. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

What an incredible piece of writing. I was hooked into the story from the word go. The first half of the book details how 'Frankie' McGrath survived as an army nurse in the mobile hospitals in Vietnam. The writing took you through all the emotions and you could visualize how horrific it must have been. Part 2 of the book details how she coped when returning to the 'real' world and how the vets were treated by the American public as well as the government. It made me realize how little I really knew about the Vietnam war. A definite 5 stars from me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance copy of this book.

Sometimes a book just appears on your @netgalley shelf and you have to drop everything and read the damn book. I can hand on (broken) heart say that you won’t regret it. I loved everything about it, the rawness, the unashamed Frankie, the heroism of the women. It’s beautifully written, I would expect nothing less from a KH book and it’s up there as one of the best books I’ve ever read. TW: there’s a LOT of graphic violence and war themes and a lot of it isn’t pretty. But I needed to read it to completely understand and do service to what these women achieved during the Vietnam war. My eyes are open.

This book deserves a place on our shelves. I’m off out to buy the hardback as soon as it’s released on 15th February 🙌

Thank you for the eARC of this stunning book @netgalley

4.25 ⭐️

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book to review.

My first Kristin Hannah book and the powerful story woven here will stay with me a long time. Historical Fiction is a powerful topic and the Vietnam War is a huge subject to tackle but Kristin tackles it with a no stone unturned approach. I love that. It's all here, the brutal first half where Frankie, the women we follow heads to Vietnam. And then the latter half of the book which is when she returns home, and nothing is as expected.

I felt all the emotions this one, but mostly anger and deep sadness. It was so moving and I'm outraged at the treatment of women veterans after they return home.

Frankie struggles and her struggles are detailed in this hugely powerful book.
Lots of trigger warnings but I truly feel more educated about the Vietnam War, a subject I knew very little about, and believe this is a must read. For the historical retelling of this awful war and the feminist outrage that is this book.

Wow, what a journey I’ve just been on through this book. It’s beautifully written.
The story is based around the war in Vietnam and follows the main character Frankie McGrath who is a nurse through the war and the hard times she faces afterwards.
I really didn’t think I’d enjoy this book as much as I have and I would 100% recommend it!
I will be looking out for other books written by this author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to NetGalley & Pan Macmillan for the advanced reading copy.

What can I say about this book that is not a superlative? It was truly an epic read which transported me back to the 1960s and a terrible War in Vietnam.
Being English, I knew very little about this subject but I do remember as a child seeing the nightly news about the war. It seemed far away and I didn’t really take it all in. I did not learn about it in school as it was actually happening whilst I was being educated.
Frances is 21 and a qualified nurse when she decides to enlist, to make her parents proud and follow her older brother into a war. However her parents do not react as she expects. She does not feel like the hero she wants to be. They do not show the same pride for her service which they demonstrated for her brother which is hard for her.
The things she sees in the war zone and her life in the hospital are vividly described and make for difficult reading. It is not a book for the faint hearted. As well as the awfulness, death and destruction Frankie also finds love and has some good times with her new friends.
The descriptions of the mobile hospitals were very evocative and brought to mind many episodes of MASH which I watched avidly as a teenager. The sadness of the situation along side the manic behaviour of the medical staff I remember so well from this tv programme were also present in this excellent book. I felt like I was there experiencing Frankie’s life alongside her.
Frankie’s troubles really begin when she returns home, no one really wants to know about her experiences. They prefer to forget the War and certainly the fact that women served too. She cannot talk about it, even to her own parents and she certainly cannot adjust to civilian life. She is obviously suffering from PTSD but it is not recognised so she must continue to suffer in silence without any help.
This is also a timeless story about War and its effects on the participants including soldiers and in this case nurses. I’m sure there are people going through the same things in today’s conflicts.
This was a fabulous read, so well researched and about a subject I knew so little. I couldn’t put it down and there were points in the book when I felt tears in my eyes- this is such a powerful story that it was able to move me in a way only a great book can.
I loved the character of Frankie, how she grew from an innocent young girl into a confident woman performing tasks that more experienced nurses would find difficult. I really sympathised with her when she returned home and felt forgotten and marginalised. I hadn’t realised that this was how Vietnam vets had been treated due to the extreme hatred of the war itself.
This book is one of those that will certainly stay with me long after I have finished it and it might turn out to be one of the best books I’ve read this year!
I recommend “ The Women” as a five star read and can only say that this author’s books keep getting better and better.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Let me start with the fact I love Kristin Hannah's books. I have been reading her work for 15 years and favourite is The Nightingale. Four Winds broke me!

So you can imagine how excited I was waiting for this book like crazy! And how happy I was when I was granted the e-ARC after months of seeing proofs around social media.

I really enjoyed that women who worked during the war were acknowledged as there is always talk of PTSD in men. Talking about the stigma around mental health how years ago was brushed off, especially if you were a woman. And the expectations of society for women, how things were changing throughout the years.

The focus was mainly about on one woman, Frankie. It focused to much on her love life, how every man was falling for her...Too much insta love for my taste. I was looking for more historical fiction than romance.

Somehow, compared to other books, this one wasn't what I expected and didn't really meet my expectations. Is like someone else wrote it, the writing style is not what I am used to with her books.

Overall, is a good read that tackles quite a few important issues.

This is quite possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read.
I couldn’t put it down once I started it and loved every single page.
It would make an amazing film (and soundtrack).
I’d recommend this to anyone. It’s a perfect read and one that will stay with me for a long time.

In The Women we follow Francis 'Frankie' McGrath who, after watching her brother enlist and ship out to Vietnam, decides to follow him and sign up as an Army nurse. Arriving in Vietnam as a young woman, her experiences over there will affect the rest of her life.

In part 2 we see Frankie back in the US and trying to deal with the aftermath of her experience, while also adjusting to the attitudes of the population and even the army support services themselves refusing to offer support to the nurse as they didn't technically 'serve'.

This was an excellent read. Quite upsetting in places due to the context, particularly in part 1, but it was easy to root for Frankie and I really loved the relationship between her and her fellow nurses.

‘The Women’ by Kristin Hannah is a story of war and battle scars that takes place in the hospitals of Vietnam and the conflicted mess of late 60’s America. We are told the story of California debutante Frankie McGrath, who surprised her family by bidding for her own spot on her father’s “heroes wall” by enlisting in the Army as a nurse. We first watch Frankie turn from girl to woman across two arduous, horrifying, formative tours, and then we see her struggle to re-integrate into a country that has told itself lie after lie to cope with the losses in Vietnam, including that “there were no women serving there”.

There are strong themes of betrayal in this novel, from Frankie’s family who don’t demonstrate any pride in their daughter’s choices despite lauding their fallen Naval son, from men in mess halls whose visions of war desensitise them to the impact of their lies, and from Veterans’ Associations who engage in denial and gaslighting to gatekeep what they view as male spaces. What brings hope to the grim tale is love, which shines through from Frankie’s best friends Barb and Ethel throughout the novel, and also from some characters whose misguided actions don’t reflect their hearts. I admire how the author keeps threads of humanity and meaning running through the depressing tapestry of this book.

I learnt a lot by reading this novel, and having read the author’s note which mentioned that she first conceived this story in 1997, I am glad she wrote it now! When I was reading the scenes set in the emergency hospitals where Frankie was working, I felt totally gripped and immersed, and was glad to read that Veteran readers had been consulted to ensure realism. After Frankie’s return to the US, the intimate portrait of a divided nation the author created felt at once alien and familiar.

Though I’d love to read more broadly including anything which gives a voice to the Vietnamese civilian tragedies of the conflict, this book amplifies an underappreciated group of women by centering its storytelling on one strong, relatable, struggling, heroic woman. It made me cry on multiple occasions and seethe with anger at times, was hard to put down, and will stay with me forever… a clear five star read for me.

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest feedback.

OMG, i finished this today and had to have some time to reflect on what I’d read before writing a review. In Kristin’s usual style she takes the reader on a journey through history that I knew very little about and I’m now wanting to know more. The story of three female friends with Frankie at their core from their experience and time in Vietnam as nurses to their return to America and the way they were treated and how the memories caused mental ill health that was dismissed by those that should have helped and supported Frankie. At one point whilst on a train I had to stop reading to avoid crying in public! When I finished I felt emotionally drained. A fabulous 5 star story.

Another stunning emotional rollercoaster of a read from Kristin Hannah. She excels in taking the stories of forgotten women in history and telling their stories. This is a raw emotional story based around the central character's time in Vietnam and re-adjustment to life afterwards. So beautifully written, it sits up there with The Nightingale which is one of my favourite books. (Tissues required).

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Oh my goodness, this story completely blew me away and will stay with me for a very long time. The characters were so believable and it flowed really well at an ideal pace. I love a good war story but have never heard it from a nurse’s perspective. There were plenty of highs and lows for the main character Frankie and you felt every emotion she was going through because it was extremely well written. An absolute amazing read and i will now be looking for other books by this author.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

Kristin Hannah's novel, "The Women," delves into the impact of the Vietnam War on female veterans, focusing on the life of protagonist Frances (Frankie) McGrath. Divided into two parts, the first introduces Frankie, a sheltered girl from Coronado, California, who enlists to please her parents and join her brother in Vietnam. Her idealized vision clashes with the harsh reality of aiding doctors in a war-torn setting, marking her transformation.

In part two, returning home, Frankie faces a starkly different reality, grappling with sexism, animosity towards veterans, PTSD, and addiction. Personally, I found the second part more captivating, relishing Frankie's journey and the author's illumination of the mental and physical toll on war veterans.

While I enjoyed the book overall, my critique lies in the underdevelopment of the sole POC character, especially in the first part. Additionally, the narrative occasionally felt detached, more like an observed story than an immersive journey. Nevertheless, it's a book I'd recommend.

Frankie ❤️

🏥It’s the mid-1960’s and Frankie is a recently qualified nurse, living at home in a small seaside town close to San Diego. Her Irish Catholic father is a successful property developer, and her family lives a country club charmed existence.

🚁Her older brother Finlay enlists in the Navy to praise from his family, Frankie realises she can do her bit for the Vietnam war too. She’s been brought up with her father idolising the family members who fought in the World Wars that he didn’t fight in. She enlists as an Army nurse, but the experience in Vietnam changes who she is forever.

🌈I have read and loved a few of Kristin Hannah’s stories, loved The Nightingale, wasn’t a fan of The Four Winds, but was thrilled to receive a last minute ARC copy of The Women to read and review. This book is a clear 5 star read for me. I was sucked so deeply into the story, I had to force myself to put it down at 70% and go to sleep at 1.30am. There is trauma and terror and also deep camaraderie, honest emotion and sadness. I learned a lot about a topic that I hadn’t given much thought to before. It had echoes of the Firefly Lane era, and I can easily imagine this story as a show or movie with the beautiful songs peppered through the story in the background. ❤️

Read an eARC copy courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher
My rating 5/5 - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Pub Date 15 Feb 2024

Wow what a story. I found this book hard to put down. Based during the Vietnamese war in the 1960's Frankie joins the army as a nurse and is thrown in the deep end of this absolutely dreadful war.
Saved by her two room mates she quickly learns that the atrocities of Vietnam are to be dealt with and moved on to the next victims. The Military have their fun as best they can but it takes its toll. After two tours Frankie goes home to the privileged life she left but life can never be the same again. She suffers with PTSD as do most veterans. Her journey is not an easy one.