The Women

"Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America" -- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Interesting submitted by cldaniels on June 13, 2024, 10:56am An interesting, fictional perspective of all the tragedy (LOTS of tragedy) of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a female nurse, who thinks that women can be heroes.

The Women submitted by aetter on June 13, 2024, 9:03pm This is a really powerful and moving book! The perspective of a female nurse during the Vietnam War was both insightful and challenging at the same time.

A character I cared about submitted by Juliettie on June 17, 2024, 6:08am I know some have debated historical accuracy. but for me, the most important part is that I cared about this character and her story helped me at least think about some of what women (and men) went through in the war.

It really got me to think submitted by alharman1022 on June 17, 2024, 9:24am I hadn't really ever considered this perspective of the war and I thought the story did a good job of making you feel how tough it was

Thumbs up submitted by Terrifisher on June 22, 2024, 12:11pm I very much enjoyed this book. It was a quick read with well developed characters that I cared about. Important perspective of a woman's experience of not being war adjacent, but actually in war.

The Women Review submitted by lucajl on July 1, 2024, 3:05pm This was an amazing book, I enjoyed every piece of it. It may be my favorite by Kristin Hannah so far, I always love her books. The focus was on 'the women' from the Vietnam War. It is not often we get to hear the stories of the nurses and I thought it was really eye opening. I highly recommend!

Really powerful book submitted by caroline.north89 on July 5, 2024, 12:26am Really powerful book and it kept me on the edge of my seat with the twists and turns

Wonderful, but not perfect submitted by kirstengator on July 10, 2024, 10:19am This book is a page turner and was a great choice to get me out of a reading slump. However, I feel like a lot of this author's books are emotional overload, and that was definitely the case here. I wasn't a big fan of the main character and I found some of the twists and turns to be a little TOO unbelievable. Overall, I do recommend this book because the writing is great.

A really sad story submitted by czadams on July 21, 2024, 7:02pm It was about a women who decided to be a nurse in the Vietnam war. People didn't know that any women served in Vietnam. They don't consider Nurses as Vietnam.
The book was a little too depressing because the 2nd half of the book was just about how she was having PTSD and not doing well and treating people really badly.
Maybe it was due to the time frame and the stigma around mental health but it felt a little too sad.

Great story on untold story submitted by dayle on August 2, 2024, 7:51am Kristin Hannah never disappoints. This story was phenomenal, though very sad. I was always rooting for the main character, even when she was making bad choices. Overall, great story about a largely untold story.

The Women submitted by lo_mc on August 4, 2024, 9:33am Kristen Hannah is an incredible writer. She takes you into Vietnam with her detailed descriptions and beautiful writing. Her research was implacable and I learned so much about the forgotten women of the Vietnam war. That said, the book was a bit melodramatic at times with the various love stories. I would have preferred more history and less romance but overall a great read!

Great Book submitted by RKrieger1 on August 10, 2024, 6:22pm I love this author's writing style and character development. I was hooked the whole book and couldn't put it down.

The Forgotten Women of the Vietnam War submitted by ekjensen on August 21, 2024, 8:14pm The long, difficult and sad personal road of Frances “Frankie” McGrath, idealist American patriot naive nurse enters Vietnam War’s front line of surgical hospitals and returns home to tragedy, addiction, loss, bitterness and eventual healing and love from family and best friend nurses from the front lines.

Gripping submitted by Carolyn J Petersen on October 3, 2024, 1:20pm Graduated from nurses training in 1966. The attention to detail amazing. “As she sat down, a garter on her panty girdle snapped and popped her thigh like a rubber band”. This on the plane headed for Vietnam. How things have changed.