This book left me speechless. I’m still not sure I have the words to give this book justice. There are not enough books out there about Vietnam, so I jumped at the chance to read this. And considering Kristin Hannah is a must read for me anyway, I couldn’t get a copy of this one fast enough. Kristin can do no wrong in my eyes.

Frankie signs up to go to Vietnam as a nurse, because she feels like that’s the only way to gain any respect from her father. She had no idea what she’s getting herself into. She forms everlasting friendships with her fellow nurses. There’s graphic detail about battlefield hospitals and what they see and do. She sees people she loves die, she can’t save many of the soldiers she sees.

When Frankie returns home she experiences a whole different kind of trauma. It amazed me to read about what Frankie went through. I know that a lot of veterans don’t get the treatment and help that they need, even today, but it really showed me that it was an issue even back then.

I had the opportunity to read this book with multiple book clubs and it was amazing to talk to people about it. Some who lived during the time period, and hearing stories about people’s family members from that time, I even remember my father’s experiences during that time.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC of this book.

Rarely does a book impact me to the extent that this one did.

The Women follows the story of a young woman in the US during the Vietnam war. In hope of making her family proud, she enlists in the Army Nurse Corps to serve and is shortly shipped out. We are given a glimpse into her life in Vietnam and then how she copes with coming back to the US.

This novel could easily be classified as an epic. The reader is quickly swept up in the story and is cheering with the main character and heartbroken with her. I easily cried multiple times while reading this book.

Parts written by another author may have felt trite or commonplace, but Hannah writes with such grace and mastery that it all made sense. This nearly 500 page book flew by.

I am so grateful to have picked up this book and been able to share Frankie's story, if only for a moment.

QUICK TAKE: If you like Kristin Hannah books, you'll like THE WOMEN. I liked it…fine. I’m not a big historical fiction reader, so maybe don’t trust my opinion here, but there’s enough to lean into here with Hannah’s story about a wartime nurse and her rough reentry into society after coming home from Vietnam in the 1970s. The book burns through a LOT of story, and MC Frankie basically goes through every possible trauma one could experience (miscarriages, alcoholism, neglectful parents, cheating boyfriend, etc). I will say, having not read a lot of books about the Vietnam War, I thought Hannah did a nice job educating readers on a dark time in US history while managing to keep the story fast-paced and entertaining.

I’ve been putting off this review because I always find it hardest to review books I loved & man oh man did I love this one, y’all. 🥹

Anyone who has read a book by Kristin Hannah knows how wonderful of a storyteller she is & I think this may be her best work yet. The character development, plot, setting, imagery - it’s just all so incredibly well done.

Although historical fiction is easily my favorite genre, I tend to gravitate towards WWII HF, solely because I’ve always found it most interesting & complex. For that reason, I put this one off & dismissed it (Vietnam? No thanks!) until FOMO got the best of me (thanks bookstagram!) and I finally gave it the shot it deserved. I’m so so glad I did & I’ve been recommending it to anyone & everyone I know.

I found the Vietnam content way more engaging & interesting than I expected & felt transported to the front lines thanks to Hannah’s detailed descriptions. Frankie was such an easy character to cheer for & man did she face some adversity. I really felt for her multiple times in the book. KH also nailed writing a few unlikeable characters (IYKYK). I think weaving love stories into historicism novels can often be a little difficult to do, but Hannah features plenty of romantic drama without taking away from anything else. I also really loved the representation of Frankie, Barb & Ethel as badass nurses & especially loved their friendship.

When I finished this book in early February, I expected it to easily be my fav of the year. While I’ve since read two others I loved just as much, it’s up there. Please please pick this one up if you have the chance, but please know there are trigger warnings galore.

I won't lie I went into THE WOMEN, very excited but I was a little disappointed. Kristin Hannah did a great job at telling a story about a group of women history seemed to forget: the women helping in the Vietnam war.... the women who were also there for the bombings, the death and destruction... the women who also had to deal with PTSD and the consequences of the war, but without the shining glory of being called a hero.

THE WOMEN explored Frankie, a war nurse who truly finds her true self while serving in Vietnam, but when she returns home, has quite a hard time assimilating back into the world she left. Her parents do not understand her anymore, but still expect her to be the obedient daughter and do exactly what good daughters do: go to dinner, dress up and get married. Frankie seeks help but doors are closed: women aren't veterans, women aren't heros and to many, women weren't even "in" Vietnam. Hannah's exploration of this isolating world is important and fascinating. A truly wonderful piece of literature for those that connected to it.

I personally found the text a little slower paced than Hannah's usual stories and I wasn't quite as captivated. All in all, its my problem and not the books as many found this to be a thrilling piece of literature & I still cannot wait to read what Hannah writes next.

I fell asleep within the first two chapters. I'm sorry. I know she is great, but her writing is just way too descriptive for me. It was a DNF.

I couldn’t put this down. Hannah’s writing, even when describing horrible atrocities, is mesmerizing. My heart bled for Frankie, and all the forgotten women of Vietnam. May we never forget - and thanks to Hannah, I know I won’t.

What an amazing story from start to finish. I always love how much time Kristin takes developing her characters. It makes you feel like you know them personally. One of the standout themes in this book was that our trauma changes us. We can never go back to the person we were before that. And lastly, our trauma is uniquely ours.

Probably my top book of 2024. WOW. Kristin Hannah has done it again with another gutwrenching, emotional historical fiction. Going into this story, I truthfully didn't know too much about the Vietnam War, and KH really sucked me into the time and the story. This story was filled with so many twists, so much pain, so much emotion - but I really could not put it down. This story is extremely inspiring and empowering - it will certainly stick with me for a long time.

I have no notes. This book shook me to my very core and will live in my soul until the end of time. I don’t know if it is because I am a nurse myself or the fact that I am married to an Army Combat Medic Veteran who wears his own invisible scars of a different war fought years later. I had literal full body goosebumps, many audible gasps of surprise, and plenty of silently shed tears. This one touched me in ways I didn’t even imagine. It’s brilliant on so many levels.

Kristin Hannah is a master of her craft and in these pages is everything you have come to love about the stories she tells. She’s one of the best. I will forever be reading anything she writes.

My only regret is I didn’t read this one sooner. If it’s on your TBR, move it up friends. Don’t wait. It’s an educational, gut-punch of a story that will stick with you for a LONG time.

Talk about a book hangover! I love the books that Kristin Hannah writes, especially her historical fiction. The Women was no exception!

Like many people, I've heard about how veterans were treated after coming home and it always makes me so sad. But I've never really considered especially now the women were treated. I laughed and cried during Frankie's story. I can't imagine giving up your life to serve your country and then being treated so horribly on your return. Kristin's storytelling ability immerses you into life during and after the Vietnam war so well that I felt like I was hearing the songs and sounds of the times. This will probably be my favorite read of the year.

Heartbreaking story about the women of Vietnam. It’s so hard to fathom how they could serve their country and see the evidence of war but not be recognized or supported for their efforts. I felt such a connection to the characters, their struggles and moving past the nightmares that haunted them. Kristan Hannah just has an amazing ability to tell a story.

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

Kristin Hannah has such an incredible gift for sucking readers into her stories. As someone who usually does not gravitate towards historical fiction, I am still fascinated by her characters and the time periods they inhabit. I loved that this was told from a nurse perspective and was so intrigued by Frankie’s story both during and after her time in Vietnam. So impressed by this book!

This is an amazing book. It personalizes social commentary on the Vietnam War in a way that has the experiences of combat nurse, Frankie McGrath, speak to all women, regardless of age and whether they have any personal connection with the war at all. I found it impossible to hold back the tears throughout the last 10% of the book, and much of what came before that also brought out the tissues. Even so, the book is hopeful and a testament to Frankie's, and all women's, core strength in the face of decisions that we look back on with disappointment in ourselves and the way that society sees as women and passes judgment upon us. The book is about finding oneself and being seen and heard in a world that wants to put us in our place. It also deals with the experience of being lied to, both on a personal and political level, and I can't imagine a woman who hasn't been affected by that.

Kristen Hannah manages to take us to Vietnam and place us right in the middle of a hospital where the damage Frankie sees and deals with is overwhelmingly horrifying. Although the sections of the book that take place in the U.S. are equally transportative, Hannah's talent really shines as she places us in an environment most of us have never come close to personally experiencing. The war story she immerses us in turns into an exploration of American attitudes toward the war and its warriers as Frankie returns home, and then into a love story that takes place in the midst of personal and societal misogyny. The book works on so many different levels, each of them compelling. Despite its length, THE WOMEN is so readable and engaging that is nearly impossible to set it aside. In the time spent not reading, I found myself thinking about the book, and even dreaming about it.

There were a few times that I need to stop reading and realcamate myself to my true envirnoment because the way Kristin Hannah writes I felt like I was dropped into Vietnam. I appreciate the way the author writes about female friendships and all that entails. I know I will think about this book and its characters often. I did not know that much about women and all that they did for our country during this extremely difficult time.

Kristin Hannah does it again! This book tells the story of the women who served in Vietnam. The women who went to war for their country and came home and were told that women weren't in the war. These women were essentially erased from history. Like many of her other books we experience all the pain and heartbreak these characters endure. I did feel like the relationship was underwhelming and the reveals were often easily predictable . I did find Frankie and her friends and their resilience compelling. I feel like if you love Kristen Hannah's other book and enjoy war nurse stories that you will enjoy this one, but if you enjoy more of her contemporary stories this may not work as well for you.

I'm not sure how to write a review for such a masterpiece of a book.

"Women can be heroes."

What a powerful statement. Kristin Hannah's storytelling is something I haven't experienced before. It brought tears to my eyes and emotions that I haven't felt for a book in a very long time. I was a little hesitant to read this because I don't read historical fiction because I don't like it. But, this isn't historical fiction it's a masterpiece that left a print on my heart.

What a story of the women that served in the Vietnam War. My husband is in the military so I know about some of the heartache and wounds associated with serving your country. Trauma is at it's core and it's painful. I fell in love with Frankie right away and the journey into her life as a nurse serving her country. The heartaches, the joys, the laughs, and the inspiration Hannah takes us on through Frankie's journey.

My heart broke time and time again in this novel. I think I shed a tear/tears many times. I paused and closed my eyes during this time with the raw and pain that Frankie had to go through. That is the power of a beautiful novel. I couldn't get enough and was so sad for it to come to a close.

This by far is probably my favorite novel of 2024 so far and am so glad that I decided to take a chance on reading this because I LOVED it. Such praise for Kristin Hannah!!

I highly recommend reading this if you haven't.

5/5 stars.

Rounded up from 4 1/2 stars. The book isn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed reading it and that’s more of what I base my reviews on. I enjoyed the Coronado, San Diego, and even Chula Vista references. As somebody who has lived in San Diego for five decades, even the construction of the Coronado Bridge and the references to the car ferry was fun to read about.. Definitely recommended for KH fans! Don’t go over this one with a fine-toothed comb, or you will definitely find flaws. Just join Frankie on her journey and see where it takes her.

This book is amazing. Of course the topic is hard to swallow, but we cannot forget these women who were there. The trauma and horrible way all of the veterans were treated is mind blowing. We need to be better and this book shows that not too long ago, we as a country showed so much hate towards people. I loved this book, I cried, I gasped. I just love anything Kristen Hannah writes.