Absolutely amazing, and heartbreaking at the same time. They never teach about the women who served during Vietnam. Heck, my history classes all skimmed over this war. It was eye opening to read this fictional story of one woman’s account of what she experienced both in and after the war, and to realize this was what women actually went through just made me sad. Once again, Kristen Hannah has created a historical novel that is a must read! This will definitely be high on my recommendation list!

I’m a sucker for a well written FMC (female main character), and Kristin Hannah has that down to an art form. I also appreciate that she’s not afraid of putting her readers through an emotional gauntlet. Highly recommend this to anyone who’s a fan of historical-fiction, but who is burnt out on WWII books. There’s not a lot out there on the Vietnam War, and even less highlighting the contributions of the women who served. That alone should put this pretty high up on your TBR list.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Frances McGrath grew up with the "Heroes Wall" in her father's den--an illustration of the men of the family who had served in the military during wars. Reminded by her brother's friend, Rye, that women can be heroes too, Frances volunteers to serve as a nurse in Vietnam. But nothing has prepared her for what she will see and experience. As her nursing skills improve, she recognizes her own contributions and volunteers for a second term.

When she returns to the US, instead of a hero's welcome, she is treated as a pariah. Her wealthy, conservative father told people she was studying in Florence, and steadfastly refuses to add her to his heroes wall. Her mother is too caught up in her country club life and worrying about what people will think to realize how much help her daughter needs.

As someone who grew up during the Vietnam War--too young to understand what was going on and mystified over the divisions it created (and living with a family member with undiagnosed PTSD from WWII)--this novel was so illuminating and really resonated. I admit it was not always easy to read with its unrelenting realism but it was well worth the effort. The ending seemed a bit abrupt after the long buildup and managed to be happyish. I would have liked to see what happened with Frankie and the vet she is unexpectedly reunited with at the dedication of the Wall in Washington, DC. #KristinHannah #NetGalley

Kristin Hannah delivers again! The Women follows Frankie McGrath, a 20 year old nursing student, raised in Southern California. Shortly after her brother is sent to Vietnam for the war, Frankie joins the Army Nurse Corps and is sent there herself.

Frankie is very green and couldn’t have prepared for what she got herself into, but in time, finds her way, forming bonds with others serving in Vietnam. She does what she can to help, but it’s overwhelming and her experience includes deep loss.

When she returns to the US, Frankie is shocked by the lack of support for military personnel and the war, even from her own family. It was infuriating to read how many times Frankie was dismissed by men, veteran organizations, and others, especially with, “There weren’t women in Vietnam.” Imagine seeing horrific scenes in person, full of death, trying to help and being disregarded or silenced when trying to enlighten others who have no idea about you went through. Frankie didn’t always make good decisions once she returned home but I was rooting for her.

I know very little about the Vietnam war and had no idea about the disdain and lack of support in the US during that time. This story was informative in that regard, and sad to hear what Frankie and others experienced upon returning home.

In true KH fashion, The Women is a powerful story shining a light on an often forgotten but essential group of women — 4.5 stars

Unpopular opinion time…I know Kristin Hannah is a beloved author, but this one didn’t really work for me. 😬 This was my first time reading one of her books and I can’t say it made me excited to pick up another one of hers.

WHAT I LIKED
🪖 This was the first historical fiction novel I’ve read about the Vietnam War and I appreciated the focus Hannah put on veterans, especially female veterans, and how their service and sacrifice was not always appreciated by the American public. It gave me a new perspective on the Vietnam War and the years following it.
🪖 I also liked the emphasis on female friendship and how Frankie and her fellow nurses, Barb and Ethel, lifted each other up, during and after the war.
🪖 The final chapter was really moving and I, for the most part, felt like it was a great full circle moment for Frankie and the other characters.

WHAT I DISLIKED
🪖 The entire story felt very shallow. It was almost as if Hannah was working off a checklist of historical events/plot points she needed to slot in at various places, which resulted in a lot of jumping around without really exploring what was happening. This lack of depth made it harder for the emotional moments to really hit.
🪖 The shallowness was compounded by repetitiveness. I think some of the repetition was intentional, but it bogged the story down in some places.
🪖 From the minute she sets foot in Vietnam, Frankie has men falling all over her. Why I don’t know as there is no explanation for this. Not much is said about who Frankie is beyond why she enlisted and, as a result, the romance was really forced because there was no clear reason as to why Frankie and her various suitors would be a good couple.
🪖 So much telling instead of showing!!!!!
🪖 Lots of plot points felt very convenient and unbelievable. No spoilers, but there is something absolutely bonkers that happens, not once, but TWICE, that had me asking why, since these events didn’t add much to the plot.


The Women is out now. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story of Frankie McGrath, who became a nurse, enlisted in the Army, and served in Vietnam during the war, is a heartwarming and engaging one. Beautifully written and seemingly very well researched, this novel hauntingly portrays the women who served in this war, most of whom have never been given the recognition they so much deserved. And, although a few of the happenings along the way definitely stretched the willing suspension of disbelief (and seemed just a bit too incredulous), this was a totally absorbing read and a real page-turner. I definitely enjoyed it.

Kristin Hannah does it again! This book was so good - informative and heart wrenching! This take place during and after Vietnam and delves into the atrocities the soldiers and the women who served as nurses went thru - during the war and upon their return to the US. Such a great book!

These characters stayed with me and made me appreciate even more our service men and women. Especially women. Somewhat predictable in parts but the overall novel overcomes that with its character development and research evident in the era and setting. Well paced with action and a few love stories. Vietnam era women's rights narrative is relative today. Hannah fans rejoice along with historical fiction fans as there is a great book to embrace!

Cop provided by the publisher and NetGalley

“The war no one wants to remember.”

4.5 out of 5 stars (4.5 / 5) Kristin Hannah is the queen of bringing historical fiction to life. She has the ability to make it sincere and personal making the reader feel as if they’ve lived it.

The Women is no different. Starting in 1965 at the beginning of the Vietnam war, Hannah guides us through Frankie’s life where she sees her brother signing up to fight, then makes the life-altering decision to sign up herself as a nurse.

While Vietnam tends to be a less-talked about war, I’ve always been intrigued by the details, the atrocities and the United States role. This story filled me with details I was not aware of and expanded my need to know more.

One of the things I love about Hannah is the continuation of the story long after it feels it should have ended. She gives us the details of after the war and what the vets went through. Having this come from a female veterans perspective was redefining to all information I’ve read before.

“The world changes for men. For women it stays pretty much the same.”

The shocking differences of how women were treated vs. men when they returned was astonishing. They were not treated as heroes but as killers and many were shunned.

My only complaint is the book length. While all those details are crucial to understanding the depth of the story, it did tend to weigh on being too long. Would I take any of those details out? Absolutely not. I just found myself feeling like the book had finished when it hadn’t. Kristin Hannah continues to be a favorite historical fiction writer with deeply moving stories and she will always be an auto-buy author for me.

AUDIO REVIEW: Well done! What a nice surprise to have my favorite narrator, Julia Whelan. She always makes the story so enjoyable!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the copies!

The book releases February 6, 2024.

In 1965, having grown up on Coronado Island in Southern California, Frankie is a “society girl” whose parents expect her to marry well and for her brother, Finley to join the military and have his picture displayed on their father’s “hero wall”. But Frankie, as a 20 year old graduate nurse, decides to defy her parents and joins the Army Medical Corps and requests to be sent to Vietnam. She is quickly initiated into a world of trauma and tragedy but develops deep friendships with her colleagues who help each other survive if possible. After serving two tours, Frankie’s nursing skills are excellent but she has lost lovers and friends and seen too much death. She returns to a home that she no longer recognizes. As with many Vietnam veterans, she is called names and spit on at the airport, her employer treats her as a new unskilled nurse and her parents are embarrassed by her military service. Over the next few years, Frankie struggles with her nightmares, flashbacks, multiple losses and addiction and when seeking help, she is told that women didn’t serve in Vietnam so treatment is unavailable.
This is a really powerful story and well written historical fiction based on facts and incidents that we rarely hear about. Frankie’s story is tragic from the perspective of her suffering, the attitude of her family and society at the time and being denied the help she needs. I found the book to be very informative and accurate in the description of events and the PTSD aftermath. The emotional ups and downs were difficult to read but the friendships developed by experiences in common were inspirational. The author accurately portrayed the experiences of veterans, especially in the Vietnam era and did an excellent job explaining how they can often only relate to people who have had the same experiences. A tough read but a really important book - highly recommend!

The Women is an intense, emotional, unflinching account of the horrors of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects on those who served especially the women. Frankie is one of the best female protagonists I’ve read about. I fell in love with her and all of the supporting characters who served with her. The scenes involving the wounded were sometimes hard to read but necessary to understand Frankie’s struggles with PTSD after the war. Kristin Hannah makes the reader feel like they are there with Frankie in wartime and in the aftermath. This book is a must read for any historical fiction fan that will stay with you long after the last page.

The Women deserves all the stars. I haven’t been able to read historical fiction in a while but Kristin Hannah always manages to pull me out of a rut. I had a book hangover after this book. I knew very little about the Vietnam War before reading and now want to learn more. Buy this book for all the fabulous women in your lives!

Thank you to Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin has done it again. A phenomenal historical fiction set in the 70s.
We read a lot of women nurses in the war, but I loved the fact this was set during theVietnam War. One thing that stood out was the common repetition of the phrase, there were no women in Vietnam. Kristen describes in great detail of these women hero’s and what they went through. They may not have been fighting with guns, but they fought for then men and their lives.
This is a must read!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC I’m exchange for an honest review.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Erica Martirano at St. Martin's Press, and Kristin Hannah for an ARC of this book!**

"A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Frances "Frankie" McGrath knows that nursing school is just the beginning for her...but the men in her life don't quite agree. With her brother heading out to Vietnam to follow in the footsteps of the men in McGrath family, his goodbye party is a wake-up call to Frankie...and she feels a pull she just can't ignore. Why aren't any WOMEN featured on her father's 'Wall of Heroes?" In the words of the poet Dylan, the times were 'a changin' and a 'safe' and sheltered life at home in the California sun just doesn't seem like the right fit for Frankie. She feels compelled to put her skills to use overseas, and to be the first McGrath woman to serve her country as part of the medical corps. Despite her family's protests, Frankie ends up enlisting in the Army Nurse Corps and proudly takes her place alongside other brave men and women ready to save lives - no matter the cost.

But Frankie's innocence and lack of experience lead to a rude awakening the minute she hits the soil: her two roommates (who will become besties) Barb and Ethel quickly show her the ropes and remind her not to drink the water...and that the prim and pristine nurse outfits that might work in the States have no place here. Her hooch (slang for a 'thatched hut or improvised living space' is not exactly a cabin from summer camp...and Frankie learns that the type of horrors she's going to see on a daily basis....well, they weren't exactly depicted in her nursing school textbooks. Dealing with the constant threat of ending up a casualty, and learning how to perform surgical procedures on the fly, Frankie has her hands full...and throw in a questionable romantic entanglement or two, and it's CERTAINLY more than she bargained for...

Eventually, Frankie's tour comes to an end, and she looks forward to the warm embrace of the family she left behind...but nothing could have prepared her for what she finds when she returns to the States. Not only is she not afforded a hero's welcome...she's met with scorn, ridicule, and a family that seems ashamed of her service. The country itself is divided, and because so many believe the war itself to be a mistake, there are protests, anger, and vitriol coursing through the veins of the citizens of the United States. Frankie is even met with statements like "There were no women in Vietnam," leaving her floored, hurt, and terrified about what a return to civilian life will be like for her and her friends. As tensions continue to rise and Frankie fights for her rights as a Vietnam veteran AND a female in a rapidly changing environment, a flood of mental health struggles threaten to disrupt her life...permanently. Can Frankie learn to process her trauma, fight for her rights AND discover what life after the war looks like for her...or will the aftershocks of a senseless war keep her mired in pain and unable to move forward...at all?

If there's one thing that's evident in all of Kristin Hannah's historical fiction, it's that she's spent FAR longer than many of her contemporaries burying herself in research about the time period (and oftentimes, the battle) at hand. Her books have a specific feel to them, one that is simply bursting with detail about the sights, sounds, smells, and look of the scenery in play. However, with all of this detail teeming from each page, I've found that at times it feels like Hannah is OVER explaining and almost justifying what time period we are in a bit TOO often, while simultaneously expecting the reader to have the level of familiarity she does with some of the background of the time period. A great example of this: TaB is mentioned as a beverage of choice many times throughout the book...as if to say, "Remember? It's the 1960s!"...but when intricacies of wartime life and vocabulary a reader who may not be familiar with the Vietnam War much at all (such as myself) such as the aforementioned "hooch" are presented with little explanation...it feels like a missed opportunity. I realize Hannah's books are fiction and not a textbook: however. coming into this book with little context about the war itself and what the day-to-day looked like in Vietnam, THAT would have been interesting to learn, rather than to just surmise what I THOUGHT it might be via context clues.

There's a second hallmark of Hannah's writing that was certainly present here: she leans into telling stories of strong women battling the patriarchy, and demonstrating that they are as powerful as men, if not more so. Frankie certainly fits the bill at first glance: she's smart, determined, brave, and even a bit headstrong, and as a reader, at the beginning of the book, I was all in with her journey. However, once you get to actually KNOW Frankie...she's a bit of a mess when it comes to decision making, and to be honest, it made it incredibly hard to empathize with her at times. For a woman so determined to forge her own path and be independent, she relies HEAVILY on her friends to bail her out time and time again (which due to the magic of fiction and storytelling, they are consistently able to drop everything at a moment's notice), and despite CONSISTENT clues that men in her life are toxic, Frankie ignores this information and continues to pursue these options. NOT TO MENTION when she ends up with a wonderful man in her life later on, she basically treats him like The Backup Guy and drops him like a bad habit. This sort of disparity in our MC made her more than a bit unlikable, and despite the empathy I felt towards her overall situation, I also felt like she purposefully got in her own way FAR more than was necessary to make the drama in the story work.

There's also the small fact that Frankie is the ONLY person we hear from....for the ENTIRE book. All 480 pages of it. With fascinating side characters like Frankie's two pals Barb and Ethel, and even some of the people she meets after returning home from war that seemed...to be blunt, more likable than Frankie, we only see the turn of events from her perspective. This book felt more like it could have been called "The WOMAN," in all honesty. Aside from not hearing from Frankie's pals, another glaring opportunity that was missed was the chance to hear from ANY of the women in VIETNAM in a real way. There are very few interactions between Frankie and these characters...but I don't see why this needed to be the case. As an author who has made it her mission to tell these type of stories, a way to flesh out this book (and still probably cut down on page count!) would have been to include the perspective of some of the women fighting for survival in their own country, at LEAST in the first half of the book. I would have gladly dropped some of the seemingly endless descriptions of bombs, blood, and some of Frankie's mooning over the aforementioned Bad Guy to hear more of THESE stories.

Perhaps the final 'hallmark' of a Hannah book in and of itself is tragedy: there WILL be deaths, and plenty of them. This is also a bit of a pain point for me personally when reading her books, because at times it can be easy to telegraph exactly who will meet their demise...and even sometimes WHEN, for the benefit of the plot. I don't mind a couple of these 'predictable' instances, but with Hannah's books, they can have the feel of a thriller that just didn't know when to quit and has a few too MANY twists. Despite these areas for opportunity in this particular novel, Hannah continues to forge ahead with her long-standing mission of exploring the other side of the coin: rather than a male-dominated, patriarchal view of all things war-related, it is the bold and brilliant women who were the backbone of many a turbulent time. She perhaps could not have picked a more complex conflict to explore, and with such divide about what it means to be a true patriot still ringing true today, this quote from MLK perhaps sums up the ramifications of a nation still feeling the aftershocks today: "The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit."

And if there's anyone with the strength to cure ANY malady...who better than a nurse?

4 stars

This book has everything that I love in historical fiction - interesting setting and time, strong female protagonists, and a story I haven't heard told yet. I highly recommend this to any fan of historical fiction, strong female characters, or even someone who wants to learn more about what it was like for Nurses and Doctors during the Vietnam War.

The Women by Kristin Hannah was an incredible walk into Vietnam. The stories, the friendships, the horrific sacrifices that were made were painted on the page with such vivid imagery. Loved the characters and learned so much as I read. Highly recommend.
Full review and links coming soon.

The Women was a moving, female-empowering book that had me captivated the entire time. This book had extremely strong female friendships that showed up for the main character time and time again. In many wars including the Vietnam war, the role of women is highly underrepresented and it was inspiring and shocking to see the perspective.

4.5 stars

“There were no women in Vietnam.” As Kristin Hannah states in the Author’s Note to her magnificent new novel The Women, this sentiment – that no women served in Vietnam, despite numerous first-hand accounts of women who were there as nurses, medical personnel, news correspondents, volunteers, etc. -- was the prevailing one during a time period that saw a country torn apart by a senseless war that should never have happened in the first place. As someone born in the late 1970s, long after the war was over, I of course had to rely on history books to learn about the Vietnam War – books that I realize now were mostly lacking in detailed information. In fact, the mentions of the Vietnam War were always so brief to the point that I had no idea how bad things actually got in America: that there had been a period of “collective amnesia” spurred on by the government where even the mere mention of “Vietnam” was taboo; that Vietnam vets were shamefully mistreated by both the government and ordinary citizens to the point that many had to go into hiding and were even afraid to mention they had served; and most frustratingly, that women’s efforts in the war were rarely (if ever) acknowledged and their experiences were largely discounted – in being constantly told that “there were no women in Vietnam,” they were rendered invisible, forcibly forgotten and “disappeared” from history. With this novel, Hannah brings these women’s experiences to the forefront and once again, delivers a heart-wrenching, emotional story that provides more depth of insight into aspects of American history than many history books are able to do.

The woman at the center of the story is Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a nursing student from a wealthy, conservative family, who decides to follow her brother’s footsteps when he ships out to serve in Vietnam in 1965. At the age of 21, inexperienced and with barely any training, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and arrives in Vietnam without the faintest idea what she would be up against. Surrounded by devastation and destruction everywhere she turns, Frankie comes face-to-face with the atrocities of war on a daily basis and learns to survive amongst the chaos. In Vietnam, she meets two other nurses – Barb and Ethel – and together, they endure horrific violence, death, loss, and heartbreak mingled with moments of incredible courage, bravery, and hope. In circumstances where both life and death hang by a thread, the deep friendships that Frankie forms with those whom she works untiringly side-by-side every day, along with a strong belief in the good they are doing for the war effort, carry her through the darkest of days. But when Frankie and her friends return home to a country deeply divided, where tensions run high and the overwhelming sentiment is to forget the war ever happened, the women realize that what they endured in Vietnam was only the beginning of a long battle for justice — for themselves as well as for those who sacrificed life and limb for a country that doesn’t want to recognize their existence.

I will be honest in saying that this was a difficult read for me, but also one that I couldn’t put down (I finished this one in two sittings, as I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages, desperately wanting to find out what happens next). Hannah has proven time and time again that she definitely knows how to tell a gripping, atmospheric story with complex female characters who are deeply flawed, yet realistic and relatable in ways that you don’t see coming until you’re so immersed in their world that it’s too late to pull back. It wasn’t until I finished the book that, upon reflection, I realized that perhaps the book was a little longer than it needed to be and some scenes were a bit repetitive and maybe not really necessary. But overall, this was a well-thought-out, meticulously researched story, poignantly told in a way that, I felt, did justice to the history and complexity of the Vietnam War era. I especially appreciated Hannah’s Author Note where she talked about the decades-long process of how this novel came to be and I definitely feel she made the right choice to wait until she was ready to tackle this subject. In my opinion, she did a magnificent job!

Kristin Hannah has become one of my favorite historical fiction authors whose works are high on my “must-read” list (though admittedly, I still have many books in her extensive backlist that I need to get to at some point). While initially, I had felt bad about not getting to this one before publication date (I realize I missed it by a few days), I now know that I need not have worried, as Hannah’s work pretty much speaks for itself. I’m sure this will be one of the buzziest, most-read books of the year (and deservingly so in my opinion).

This was an amazing book! I loved it! What a rollercoaster of emotions. It's always tough to read about the Vietnam war with all the deaths. But to read about a female Army nurse in all the chaos was heart-rending. And then having to deal with PTSD when she got back home. The writing in this book was just flawless. The characters were realistic. This book is perfection and is easily one of my favorites.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Kristin Hannah for an ARC of The Women in exchange of an honest review.

Another beautiful novel by Kristin Hannah. I was again swept up in the story and I highly recommend for any of her previous readers or for book clubs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. #sponsored