This was way out of my normal reads, but it was excellent and I’ll probably be thinking about it for a while.

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for this ARC. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

I learned so much from reading this. I loved the main character, and could feel her camaraderie with her sisters-in-arms in my bones. Such a beautiful, hard story.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I have enjoyed all of Kristin Hannah's books that I've read. The Women was amazing! Frankie (Frances) McGrath is a 20-year-old girl who has just completed nursing school. She's grown up sheltered on Coronado Island in California with her wealthy parents and her brother, who has been her best friend. Her father has a Hero Wall in his home office featuring photos of the men in their family who have served in the military. Her brother is headed for Vietnam after graduating from the Naval Academy and is killed in action. This sends her family into a spiral. Frankie shocks her parents when she enlists in the Army to be a Nurse. She has very little experience and the Army is the only branch that will take her. Frankie arrives in Vietnam as a frightened girl and overcomes many hardships to become an amazing nurse and a strong woman. When she returns home she realizes no one is welcoming the soldiers home. She suffers from PTSD and there is no one to help her as even the VA doesn't see the work the female nurses did as important or deserving of help since she didn't actually see combat. The Women was "couldn't put it down" good. I appreciate NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Really enjoyed this book. Loved the writing, loved the feelings it evoked,loved the fact it was about women in vietnam, a topic that is not often addressed. There is little recognition of female service in any capacity during the Vietnam war. As a fellow RN, loved the story evolving around nursing. The scenes at times were graphic and traumatic and it was easy for me to identify with the FMC Frankie.
Really enjoyed the relationships with her 2 fellow RN that saved her over and over again. Three incredibly strong women, supporting each other through life and trauma was wonderful to read. I enjoyed the evolving relationship with her parents that ended on a sweet note.
I guessed very early on what the ending of the book would be.
Great book, recommended.

Such a beautiful book. Kristin Hannah never fails to write the most lovely books I’ve ever read. This book was so very good. I will be waiting impatiently for her next book so I can devour it too.

What an incredible journey we’ve been led on by Kristin Hannah, this time through Vietnam! Frankie joins the nursing unit and is sent abroad, taking us through the shock, learning curve, love and pain of the Vietnam War. A beautiful tribute to the women who served, and a touching reminder for those who haven’t learned about this part of our history.

A beautiful tribute to some of our most forgotten and mistreated heroes. Frankie McGrath is unforgettable and shines a light on our military- particularly the women whom many forget during one of our nation's darkest times. I have a feeling that Frankie and her friends will be taking up space in my mind for a long time to come.

I love Kristin Hannah's books because of the history lesson I receive. Honestly, it feels like living history. "The Women" covers the 1960's, one of my favorite decades and one I have researched thoroughly. "The Women" follows the story of Frankie McGrath and her unexpected decision to join the Army during Vietnam. Wow! I thought I knew a lot about the 60s yet Hannah managed to educate me on the the brave women veterans and what they endured once returning from serving their county.

Thus far I have really enjoyed all of the Kristin Hannah books that I've read. I think what sets her apart is the immersive storylines and character arcs. She is great at getting you to forget you're reading fiction stories. The characters feel like real people. You feel their horror, excitement, sadness, yearning, etc. Kristin Hannah also excels at bringing the scenery to life. The descriptions in The Women are often brutal and it certainly gives you a lot to think about the military industrial complex. I learned some interesting information about the Vietnam War in this book. I appreciated that she went at the story from the perspective of the nurses, whose service was often forgotten. You can tell she did a lot of research for this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Kristin Hannah once again knocks it out of the park with this book. I don't know that I have ever read a book about the women who were a part of the Vietnam more which makes Frankie's struggle to get help all the more believable. I learned so much while empathizing with Frankie and her friends. I know that because of Hannah's fan base this book will be read by many and hopefully, like me, others will understand more about this war and its after effects.

I loved this book. I truly felt like it encompassed the grief and emotions, the love and loss. It was something I did not know much about and I walked away learning so much about the women who went to war.

This is now my new favourite Kristin Hannah book. This is right up there with The Nightingale and The Four Winds as incredible sagas with strong female characters.

The Women follows Frankie McGrath as she grows from young women to soldier, combat nurse Vietnam Veteran.

This book has everything; action, drama, romance and heart. This will not be an easy read for some, but it is definitely worth it. If I could give it 10 stars I would.

I wish this book didn’t have to end.

I was excited for Kristin Hannah's new book but was not excited that it was about war. This book was so good! Read it. It's the story of a woman who is an army nurse in Vietnam and her life afterward. It's powerful and so good.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book for an honest review. Kristin Hannah is an amazing writer and I was intrigued about this topic, the women of the Vietnam War. I know very little about the women that served. It turns out that the public was kept unaware up until almost recently the actual numbers of women who volunteered and served our country during this terrible war. Ms. Hannah weaves a wonderful story of complex characters that demonstrate the depth and despair that these soldiers endured. I would recommend anything by this author.

A powerful book about an underwritten about time period - the Vietnam War. I was fascinated by the historical research in this novel and I learned so much. I appreciated how it was both about the war and what life was like for vets when the returned. Those parts were very interesting. I did feel like some of the plots point were rather predictable. However, overall I really enjoyed and am glad I read this novel.

This was a powerful book that focuses on a woman who served as a nurse in Vietnam and the struggles she faced both there and when she returned home. There are parts that are very difficult, but that is the nature of the topic. Overall, I thought this was a great book and would recommend it.

Thanks to St, Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. I've read a number of Kristin Hannah's books - my favorites are The Nightingale and The Four Winds. The Women is about the untold stories of the women who were involved in the Vietnam War, focusing on one nurse, Frankie, who was there for two terms. The first half of the book is mostly in Vietnam, while the second half is after Frankie comes home and tries to acclimate back to "normal". This book shows the common refrain "there were no women in Vietnam" was false, they were not seen as war heroes, and they were silenced when they tried to seek out services to heal emotionally afterwards. It's not my favorite of her books, but it's an important work. I won't forget these characters.

Take a minute, if you would. Think about the last time you read a blockbuster book about women in Vietnam. Think hard. I know that as a fifty-something women, a voracious reader, who enjoys women's history, I came up empty on this one. That's the gap that The Women starts to fill.

The Women is by best-selling novelist Kristin Hannah. Readers of the Nightingale know that if Hannah is diving into a historical topic, it will be well-researched, and it will require a lot of Kleenex. (I admit that I had to pull over while listening to scenes in The Nightingale, because I was crying so hard I couldn't drive). The Women does not disappoint in either of those areas.

Frankie McGrath has grown up knowing what heroes are - there is a wall dedicated to her family's warriors in her father's study. When her beloved brother decides to follow the family tradition and volunteers for service in Vietnam, Frankie, fresh out of nursing school, makes the life-shattering decision to enlist in the Army Nursing Corps.

Frankie, of course, discovers that she is nowhere near ready for what she encounters as a nurse in a conflict zone. She finds solace in amazing friendships and potential romances, and, inevitably, grows up fast. The characters who become Frankie's support network in the nursing corps were one of my favourite parts of the book.

There is a lot of pain in the book, both in Vietnam, and at home, as Frankie tries to adjust to who she has become. The real depth in this novel comes in that story of adjustment. There is family trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. It is not easy to read, but it is compelling, and it is a story that many women lived in silence. I am old enough to have been a fan of China Beach, which this shares a timeframe with, but The Women gives us "the rest of the story" for those women who came home, and didn't know how to "be" in a world that wasn't ready for them, or their experiences. One thing I appreciate about a book like "The Women" is the "here's what I read that informed my writing" from the author. There's lots here to continue our learning.

4.5 stars from me (rounded to 5), because I thought some of the wartime romance was predictable, and I wasn't sure it added to the depth of the story.

Thanks to St.Martin's Press and NetGalley for the e-arc.

The women by Kristin Hannah. Upcoming publishing date of Feb 2024 by St Martins press
I was so so excited to have the opportunity to read this one early in exchange for a honest review and thankful that I was able too. Kristin Hannah has been a favorite author of mine for many years!!
I have read many of KHs books and this latest one does not disappoint. This book touches on the effects of the Vietnam war on the women and the men that served, but more importantly the women, the nurses!
They were the ones who were the first lines of defense, patching up those that could be patched up,
Holding the hands,of those that didn’t survive. Sitting with them,‘writing to the family and just assuring they were not alone in their last moments of life. The ones who aided in assuring that some were able to go home to their family’s.
This book has educated me on a war and wars of what happens over there, the things that aren’t shared with the general public.
There were moments in the book that I thought I knew what was going to happen next but there were definitely some moments that saddened me and some of excitement of this story of love, loss, hopelessness, addictions, ptsd, lifelong friendships and oh so much more.
I enjoyed this book so much and highly recommend you have tissues near by when you read this story. You will definitely need them.
Five star book ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you KH for another great read!!

Thank you to all that served our country, the veterans, the fallen hero’s and the women who also were hero’s! Bless you all.

This is another very strong entry into Kristin Hannah's catalog of historical fiction. There were many things to appreciate about this book. The depictions of Vietnam (the horror of incoming wounded, the dirty exhaustion of the hospitals, the trips beyond camp borders, even the beauty of the landscape) were vivid. Our main character, Frankie, showed a very human combination of naivete and grit that had me both cheering for her and yelling at her. And as strong as the first part of the novel (in-country) was, the second half was equally powerful in its description of what life was like for returning veterans in terms of the the disrespect and anger at re-entry and the ongoing struggles with both the physical and psychic wounds of war. And, of course, the spin Hannah put on the stories in highlighting women's experiences before, during, and after the war was very well-done and SO maddening. My only small quibble with the book was the VERY ending (like, last few pages). Otherwise, an excellent read.