What readers think of The Women, plus links to write your own review.

This is going to sound odd, but I didn't want to like this book. Why? I have only read two other Kristin Hannah books, and both of them played deeply with my emotions in a way I felt wasn't a fair way for an author to treat a reader. And, of course, this one did the same thing. But it is a good book! Very good. So many people—from my best friend to Bill Gates—highly recommended it, which is why I gave in and read it.

This is the fictional story of one young woman who served as an Army nurse from 1967 to 1969 in Vietnam, and her tale—of moving from insecurity and naivety to confidence and heroism—that is meant to be the story for every brave and patriotic woman who served in that conflict and then came home to a nation that was not only ungrateful, but also openly hostile.

Frances Grace McGrath, or as Frankie as she is better known, grew up in a wealthy and privileged home on Coronado Island, California. The beach was her front yard and earliest sandbox. Frankie and her beloved brother, Finley, were inseparable as children. After graduating from the Naval Academy, Finley is sent to Vietnam, earning the respect and admiration of his father. When Frankie is challenged by one of Finley's classmates to go, too, she does. She has just graduated from nursing school and knows there is a desperate need for combat nurses. While her parents are proud of Finley, they are horrified with Frankie. But she goes anyway, joining the Army Nurse Corps.

The novel, which is a rat-a-tat-tat of action and plot twists and turns, is the story of Frankie's experiences in Vietnam, the other nurses and doctors she befriends, her impassioned love affair, and her transformation from the "good girl debutante" to one who is independent, confident, and opinionated. There is tragedy. There are gruesome wounds. There is death. (So much death). Throughout it all, there is the constant, unrelenting brutality and violence of war.

After two tours of duty, Frankie comes home to parents who reject her and a country that betrays her. But just as she relied on her best buddies in Vietnam, Ethel and Barb, so she relies on them when she comes back to the United States, a changed woman with barely controlled rage, irrational mood swings, and inexplicable anger. "She'd gone to war a patriot and come home a pariah. 'How do I get back to who I was?'" And, of course, the answer is, no one who went to Vietnam can ever get back to who she (or he) was.

Bonus: The detailed descriptions of 1960s and 1970s fashion and music add a lot to the ambiance of the story.

And while readers will take an emotional beating reading this book (keep a box of tissues handy), it is a page-turner that is hard to put down. Wrenching as it may be, this provocative and haunting book is a testament to the brave women who put their own lives at risk to help save the men fighting in Vietnam.

Women can be heroes.

It is a simple line to repeat, but it is appropriate in “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. Frankie wants to serve as a nurse in Vietnam to help the way her male relatives had. Like “Platoon,” we see the war through the eyes of the most inexperienced eyes possible, from a well-meaning civilian with good intentions.

Kristin Hannah excels at taking history stories we think we know and telling them in new, engaging ways. The horrors of war have no way of hiding from the uninitiated. Somehow, the author balances romance, violence, and national pacifism to paint the picture for those who did not live through this time. It questions war for all the right reasons.

Frankie’s world is chaotic, and we experience several “MASCAL,” or mass casualty incidents that would almost desensitize you…and Frankie, for that matter. She does her job admirably despite the shock. Elements of romance appear, and, as is Hannah’s strength, the reader does not know the outcome since the aspects of war do not guarantee survival. The goal seems more profound.

At the novel's halfway point, we experience what life was like coming home from Vietnam, especially for women. At least now, we thank everyone, not just men, for their service. The lack of support from the nation led to a downward spiral of alcohol, anger, and flashbacks, made worse since no one considered the woman’s role as traumatizing as combat.

You endure a lot of suffering and truly experience the various adjustment periods for Frankie. She never seems ready but always endures what comes up. If you finish reading thinking that the author glorified war or that the protesters did not have a point, you read a different book than I did. Kristin Hannah is one of our better authors.

This book is outstanding! I've watched Ken Burns documentary on Viet Nam and Hannah brings it alive. No one has told the story of Nam from the view of the women who served in this war, their experiences and what they encountered coming home.

The Women by Kristin Hannah
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC audiobook

Narrated by: Julia Whelan and Kristin Hannah reading authors note


I’ve always enjoyed Julia Whelan’s narrations and she does another excellent read once again.

4.5 Stars rounded up to

1960’s—turbulent times, Vietnam War, a nation divided by war

Kristina Hannah knows how to pull a reader in from the beginning of a book and keeps the pace running through to the end. Frankie, a young naive unrealistic girl, joins the Army Nurse Corps shortly after her brother was killed in Vietnam.

Frankie sees what war truly is and with the comradeship she forms with other nurses is what helps her survive during her tour in Nam. Frankie becomes a rockstar in the OR in Nam, and then….

Upon coming home and having people cussing and spitting and calling you baby killers is something Frankie most definitely wasn’t prepared for. People not believing women were in Nam and dismissing her. The emotional toll of war, death, and people expecting her to be her old self upon coming home, leaves Frankie alienated and unable to cope with things. Frankie could not pull herself back from despair. The naive unrealistic girl she was before is gone.

This is the first book I’ve read about the women in Nam and what they endured during and after the war. Parts of this story resonated with me, having had family members in Nam; losing some of them to cancer that was most likely due to, Agent Orange.

Vietnam—the war no one wants to remember.

Coming-of-age story of war, death, trauma, love, friendship, PTSD, POW/MIA, Agent Orange, addictions, family, and learning to navigate life after war.

I grew up during the Vietnam war. I learned so much from this book that I did not know. I shed a few tears and throughly enjoyed this book. Great writing and characters-it will stay with me for a long time.

A story of women in Vietnam, trials, love, the heartbreak of The Vietnam War. The music quotes, protests against the war. All there. Culture and events in the USA to look back on - remember and to learn. “When will we ever learn - war - a long time still passing"

The Women by Kristin Hannah is an exceptional portrait of a nurse serving "in country" during the Vietnam War and then returning home. This is a very highly recommended, emotionally charged historical fiction novel which will certainly be one of the best books of the year. This would be an excellent choice for book clubs and will certainly result in thought-provoking discussions.

After nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears the words "Women can be heroes too," while looking at her father's wall of heroes featuring pictures of the men in their family who served their country during a party for her brother Finley who is leaving to serve his country in Vietnam. After she gets her RN she follows the lead of her older brother, and joins the Army Nurse Corps and begins basic training in 1966. Once she arrives in Vietnam, she is overwhelmed by the smells, sights and chaos, but is shown support and the ropes by fellow nurses Ethel and Barb. She quickly steps up and adapts to the responsibilities of a surgical nurse dealing with horrific injuries under extreme conditions.

After serving two years, Frankie comes home and faces a different kind of battle. Her father is ashamed of her service, the country does not recognize nurses who served and sacrificed as veterans, and the country is in turmoil. The only help and support she can find for her PTSD are from Ethel and Barb who understand what she is going through mentally and help her adapt to civilian life in a changed country.

The writing is phenomenal and manages to create an emotionally charged, realistic, and vivid portrait of Frankie's service and her struggles. I was completely immersed in The Women from start to finish. Part of my complete captivation with the narrative was based on my memories from that time period. I was young, but have vivid memories of events from the sixties and certainly more from the seventies. Hannah managed to create a complete portrait of the women and the times (including clothing).

The experiences the characters experience is heart-breaking. Frankie is a completely fully-realized realistic character who garnered my compassion and empathy. Her treatment when coming back from war to work in a hospital is eye-opening and in many ways disgusting.

This is the best kind of historical fiction as it takes a long sweeping view covering years of a character's life as society, information, and point-of-views constantly change around the characters. It covers an era and a turbulent time. The narrative is broken into two parts. The first deals mainly with the war and the second with trying to reenter civilian life after the war.

The Women by Kristin Hannah is a must read novel. I expect it to be on many lists for the best novels of 2024. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

I have not finished the book at this point, but was in the play A Piece of my Heart and everything I am reading, is so similar to the script. Even being handed a boot with a foot in it. I am curious if she did a rewrite from this script.