Kristin Hannah’s soon-to-be-released novel, The Women, is a poignant depiction of both women’s grit and the relative recent history of the war in Vietnam and its toll.
I was a young child when the war in Vietnam was raging. Mainly through photos, I remember a thin, somewhat hollow-eyed cousin staying with us on leave one Christmas. He thoughtfully brought us dolls and outfits from Vietnam. Fast forward four to five years and I remember putting together care packages in elementary school. Fast forward a couple more years, and I remember buying POW/MIA bracelets in support of the effort to bring home missing service men. My use of “service men” was intentional, and that is part of Kristin Hannah’s point in writing this book. Aside from somewhat benign television programs like China Beach and MASH, the general public did not hear the story of the women who served their country and saved many lives.
Strong women and women’s friendships are featured in The Women. The grit and fortitude they showed during their tours of duty and upon coming home should be inspirational for the today’s young women. While the storytelling overall is enthralling, I found the pace to be inconsistent. That might have been intentional to reflect life as a combat nurse vs. life back at home. The lead character, Frankie, appears to be a strong person but to me, she needed too much support from the men around her before she could find her strength.
Ms. Hannah’s depiction of PTSD and the propensity of addiction for returning Vietnam vets rang true. Her signature research was obvious in The Women. I especially appreciate the numerous primary references she used in her research.
Frankie’s journey is filled with horror and death, demons and emotions, and love and friendship. Her journey in The Women is compelling, and the ending to her story is perfect. The Women is one of three books that has made me cry hard. It was worth every teardrop and the resulting puffy eyes. The Women is a must read and not just for historical fiction lovers.

I was in desperate need for a 5-star read and this one absolutely delivered. This book is an example of storytelling at its best. I love historical fiction that sends me on my own historical research while also captivating me with all the emotions. I felt sadness, anger, love, and even surprise! This will be a top read for me and a definite recommendation for fans of historical fiction. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Book for the advanced digital copy.

This was a captivating read and it shed a light on a different part of the Vietnam war that people need to know about.

I'm normally a big fan of Kristen Hannah but this book falls flat for me. It's too slow and I am not connecting with the main character Frankie

I finally finished this ARC! What an emotional roller coaster, which ended with a gentle whisper of hope (and a surprise twist!). Now I want to watch a good Vietnam documentary. A gut-wrenching story of women forgotten in war, and the power of female friendship during adversity. Highly recommend!

Wow. Let me preface this by saying…I do not like historical fiction, especially if it take place during a war. 𝙃𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍, I loved this book. It’s actually my 1st book by this author and I can totally see why people love her writing so much.

Frankie is a 21 year old woman in a family who holds military service as one of the most important sacrifices you can make for your country…it is honorable, unless…you’re a woman. The story takes place during the Vietnam war, a war that took her brother from her. So she jumps at the chance to go support the war effort as a nurse. Frankie works hard and becomes an excellent nurse and sees horrific things that will plague her the rest of her life.

After signing for 2nd round in Vietnam, she finally comes home…but not to a welcome party, not to a country who is proud or a family that is in awe of her bravery. What she did wasn’t seen as brave or honorable but shameful. The way she was treated when she returned home broke my heart.

Life chews Frankie up and spits her back out again and again. She falls in love in different ways with Jamie, Rye and Henry and has hardships aplenty. There is a constant piece of good in her life though, the bond she forms with Barb and Ethel. Barb was such a lovely presence in this book.

Throughout the book Frankie and other women looking for support were told they couldn’t enter support groups for Vets of the Vietnam War because “women weren’t in the war.” I can’t imagine risking my life for a country only to be treated as less than.

I learned a lot about the Vietnam War from this book especially the contributions of women to the war effort. It was such a tumultuous time in our country as the civil rights movement was in full swing. I didn’t realize so many were reported dead only to return home after being falsely reported deceased. Talk about a roller coaster!

I always knew many vets had PTSD after being in Vietnam, seeing & experiencing such awful things but I didn’t even think of how they were treated upon their return to the states and how that also impacted their psyche.

This book gave me all of the emotions. I was flying high with Frankie when things were good and I would shed a tear during her lowest lows. Kristin Hannah crafts such a deep, raw tale of life and all of the peaks and valleys we encounter throughout the course of our lifetime.

The horrors of Vietnam for doctors, nurses, and medics become real in the pages of Hannah’s new novel. Frances ‘Frankie’ McGrath is a good girl from Coronado Island, CA who decides to enlist so she can go to war and support her brother. Things don’t work out exactly as planned but as an Army combat nurse Frankie soon finds herself in Vietnam, in the thick of it, learning as she goes.

Frankie is first assigned to neuro under Dr Smith where she gets excellent training in a somewhat lower intensity environment but she is soon moved to surgery where she works closely with Dr Jamie Callahan. Jamie is a great teacher and an even better friend and they spend many hours each day in surgical procedures that will hopefully save the lives of their fellow soldiers. It is a brutal and grinding existence and the medical staff leans on one another then they party hard when they have down time.

The hardships are a way of life for the duration of their deployment and Hannah does not let up on the pressure that the reader gets from the story. Frankie’s life however does not end with the war so as readers we follow her back home and into the next chapters of her life. But America has changed and so has she.

It’s a powerful and brutally honest telling of the Vietnam experience that will leave readers reaching for tissues more than once.

This was an easy five-star read for me. I think it will be hard for other readers to not love this book. This was an incredibly fast pace read. I found myself flipping pages like nobody's business. You could tell right from the start that this book was very very well researched. To be very specific and real stories, it was incredibly eye opening in a way that you wouldn't be able to get elsewhere. I don't think I have ever cried so hard reading a book. To the point of sobbing uncontrollably. It was absolutely incredible. Make sure you read the author's note as well, very touching. A special thank you to Netgalley, Kristin Hannah, and St. Martin's Press for gifting me this e-ARC. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This novel tells the story of a combat nurse who served in the Vietnam War. It is brutally honest. The protagonist, Frankie, is a Southern California girl living in an affluent island near San Diego. She gets hit with the brutal realities of war soon after arriving in country. She experiences it all - missing limbs, mortally wounded young soldiers, blood everywhere, horrible living conditions, and unspeakable losses.

Then, when Frankie returns to California, her problems keep going. Though she is supported by two other women with whom she served, she succumbs to addiction problems, nightmares, and is unable to fit into the affluent world she left.

This book was well written and well researched. It's an important book for understanding the true horrors of any war. Yet the book is unrelenting in chronicling the aftermath of war. The main character does not get a break, and she does not get a Hollywood ending. Sensitive readers might want to read this book in sections, taking breaks for something lighter.

“What is it good for…absolutely nothing.” - War

When twenty-year-old nursing student Frankie McGrath is told by her brother’s friend that “women can be heroes too,” it sparks an indelible flame within her. When her brother is drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, she decides to enlist in the Army Nurse Corps and join him, having no idea just how much that decision will ultimately affect the course of her life.

This book pays homage to the millions of vets who experienced detrimental physical and emotional damage in a widely unpopular war (not of their own volition in most cases) only to return home to public outrage. Kristin Hannah gives voice to the pain and suffering these veterans experienced post war - both the high suicide rates and the very high drug and alcohol addiction rates in a world that was only beginning to recognize PTSD.

At the heart of this story though, are the women - those who served their country in the same vain as their male counterparts, and yet received none of the recognition from their fellow Veterans, including the Veterans Administration (VA) who refused them needed psychological treatment.

I have read some criticism that the second part of the story has too much going on, and is too dramatic and/or all over the place. I have to very respectfully disagree. It is through the mess and the chaos (both very present in this turbulent part of history) that we see just how much the war has broken these men and women, and how hard they must work to find their way back to being whole.

I chose to do an immersive read of this book, primarily because my all time favorite narrator was at the helm. Julia Whelan could not have done a better job of voicing this incredible story, these unforgettable characters, and all of the angst, tension, distress, and messiness of the times. If you could only choose one book to read immersively, make it this one.

This will easily top my list of 2024 favorites.

Read if you like:
•learning about the Vietnam war
•the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s
•strong female protagonist
•coming of age stories
•messy love stories
•emotional reads

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan audio for my gifted copies.

As soon I finished the first sentence I knew this was going to be a 5 star read. Kristin Hannah can do no wrong for me. Her books make you think, fell, cry and just plain addictive, I thought nothing could top The Nightingale but this just took the top spot. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy for a honest review.

Kristin Hannah can do no wrong. I think this one is one of her best ones. The emotions the characters went through. From being in war to how it was being home. People hating Frankie and being ashamed of her for serving as a nurse in Vietnam. I can’t even imagine how that must of felt for those to have served over there and under appreciated for their sacrifices. Loved it so much

Another fabulous Kristin Hannah book. I highly recommend this book. It is truly historical fiction at its best, with an emotionally charged narrative that transcends the war genre.

The book’s compelling narrative kept me hooked from beginning to end. The characters were well-developed. The protagonist, Frankie McGrath, is a complex, relatable character. Her flaws and strengths were so realistic she could have been any of us. The pacing of the book is fast and engaging, with rapid page-turning action in the first half of the novel specifically.

I loved the strong female friendships of the three central women characters. Their relationship provided an emotional depth.

Kristin Hannah undertook extensive research and gave us a novel that sheds light on lesser-known aspects of the Vietnam War, particularly the role of female military nurses.

The heartbreaking realism deeply moved me and was a realistic portrayal of the Vietnam War and the challenges faced by the characters both during and after the conflict.

The conclusion of the novel is emotionally powerful and has left a lasting impression on me.

Kristin Hannah's upcoming release, The Women, left me in a severe love-hate conundrum. I can only give it three stars, an average of the five stars it deserves for the parts set in Vietnam and the one star it deserves for the backstories and romances.

I loved the section of the book set in Vietnam. This part of the book was well-researched, action-packed, and took me as close as I wanted to be to a combat medical evacuation unit. Vietnam War literature has not covered the nurse's perspective much, so I especially valued this content. The Vietnam writing was gritty and sometimes challenging to read but written very well (trigger warnings for some readers, though, so be forewarned).

However, the book chapters preceding Frankie's tour in Vietnam were slow and plodding. Frankie seemed devoid of personality - a cardboard caricature of "the good girl." I came close to DNFing the book before it even took off. The last half of this overly long book covered Frankie's return home and her struggles with PTSD. Aspects of these sections had decent content, covering the abysmal treatment of returning vets, the complete dismissal of women serving in combat zones, and the range of issues Vietnam Vets had adapting to life back home.

All good, but then there were the intertwined romances and backstories, and these were, in my opinion, just horrible. I've watched soap operas with more feasible plot lines. I don't want to include spoilers, but there were way too many times I rolled my eyes in dismay. It wasn't even that the romance aspect was too swoony (people familiar with my reviews know I have a low tolerance for swooniness), but the plot devolved into the ludicrous. The ridiculousness of some of the events in Frankie's relationships detracted from the seriousness of the rest of the story. Given the book was almost 500 pages long, much of this could have (should have) been edited out.

Some details in the book's second half would have benefitted from better research. As written, they detracted from the good parts of the story and came off as just plain lazy. It's small stuff, but it piled up and was sometimes so frustrating I wanted to give up reading. Here are a few of my issues (that won't give away the plot). First, one nurse friend wants to be a veterinarian. OK, good for her, but in the late 1960s, few women were getting into vet school and, indeed, were mostly blocked from becoming large animal vets as this woman aspired to (I am a veterinarian, and vet school did not open broadly to women until the early 1980s). So this friend comes home from her tour in, I think, March and enrolls in vet school during the middle of the school year because, of course, a nurse can just do that without taking any prerequisites or entrance exams or even applying. Then this same friend, more than once, drops everything, including vet school, to fly out at the last minute and spend weeks helping Frankie, who is dealing with one melodramatic romantic crisis after another. Because you can do that in the middle of vet school with no apparent repercussions. This isn't the vet school I remember. And what regular folks just flew around the country on a whim in the 1960s? Flying was a big deal then, not done on a day's notice. Later in the book, a character living in rural Montana decides to become a clinical psychologist and does so while living in rural Montana because they have so many clinical psychology programs (yes, this is sarcasm).

I understand I am an outlier here, but I'm also not alone in my criticisms of the non-Vietnam aspects of the novel. You'll enjoy the book if melodrama, lack of historical accuracy, and telenovela-level romances don't bother you.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eBook version of the novel in return for a review.

Not every author can be trusted to tackle such a difficult period in American history, but Kristin Hannah did an amazing job. She clearly does impeccable research, and her ability to evoke emotions in her readers is second to none. I truly loved Frankie’s story and her arc as a main character. This book didn’t shy away from the horrors of war or the horrors veterans faced upon coming back home, and I loved the honesty. This was a truly heart wrenching story that I will be thinking about for a long time.

I've read many, but not all, of Kristin Hannah's books. I wasn't alive when Vietnam took place and I appreciate the dedication to the historical accuracy of the moment. Those parts of the book were truly eye-opening and great for discussing the complexities of the war for a book group. I would not put this as an overall favorite as I felt the heroine was a little...flat. She just didn't resonate the same and while she had growth and a character arc over the course of the book, the arc was pedestrian in nature. Readers of Hannah will still love her style, compassion, and intrigue so fear not that this book will fly off the library shelves as well.

Kristin Hannah's "The Women" is about the female soldiers in Vietnam and their return to the United States. Our main character Frankie, serves two tours in Vietnam and we see her transform from a girl in heels from a more than middle class family to a seasoned soldier who is far prouder of her service than her family or many Americans back home. Frankie wants to have her picture on her father's war wall and have him be proud of her, but the sexism of the times makes this impossible. The audiobook is excellent, the pacing of this book keeps the pages turning (and the play button going). Just like in war, there is much loss in this book too.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Wow. Such an important story that needs to be told. I appreciated the growing and development of the MC. My first 5☆ book in a very long time. Must read.

5☆

It's 1965, all the young men are being sent to fight in Vietnam including Frankie McGraths's brother Finley. Being a 21 year old out of nursing school Frankie decides to follow her brother and joins the Army Nurse Corps. Before she heads to boot camp they receive a knock on the door alerting the family that Finley's helicopter was shot down and he did not survive. Now Frankie is not certain she made the right decision enlisting; she's always been the good girl and has followed all the rules, now she feels she has made the wrong decision. When she arrives in Vietnam Frankie is immediately overwhelmed with the destruction she sees and the injuries/death all around. Her bunk mates, Barb and Ethel, quickly take her under their wings and show her what it takes to survive. With not much experience as a nurse, Frankie does not know what to do but she quickly learns and after two tours she is a rockstar. But what is she going to do when she gets home? America is not the same place it was when she left, it is divided and even though she was helping the soldiers while at war people are angry with her. How is she to adjust back to a normal life after living in completely chaos and fear? Why is no one willing to help her and why do they all seem so ashamed of her?

This was a story the really brough to light what the women in Vietnam went through and how they were treated when they came home. This story is full of love, heartbreak, sadness and anger. One of the best stories I have read in long time.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author for my ARC!

Kristin Hannah’s newest historical fiction novel is my favorite one yet! You can tell the novel is well researched. As I was reading I felt like I was experiencing what the characters were. Frankie McGrath was a phenomenally strong and brave character. I can’t wait to be able to recommend this book to everyone!