The Women by Kristin Hannah

A Review - 5 Stars

I rarely come across a book that makes me feel WOW! The Women by Kristin Hannah is one powerful book and I sat holding the book for some time after I finished reading it.

It's also rare I dedicate a longer review to one book but this book made me feel things and emotionally I felt everything from anger to despair to disbelief, and eventually, hope. The story made me want to keep reading, and I wanted to say something about this amazing story and the woman who wrote it, an internationally best-selling author. Kristin Hannah has a gift for writing historical fiction.

Cover of my copy of the book. I took this as soon as I finished reading it and sat with it for some time before adding it to my bookshelf.

Historical fiction is a genre I read occasionally. In The Women, a novel released in 2024, we learn about Frances 'Frankie' McGrath, who enlists in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. The fact the story was set in Vietnam is the reason I wanted to read it, I was still only a teenager when the war ended. I have memories of watching the atrocities on television.

From 1955 to 1975 this war raged on, a senseless waste of lives.

The 1960s saw an era of change, of upheavals, and especially for women, their choices of who they wanted to be or do, were expanded. No longer were their career choices only teacher, nurse or secretary. The era of free love was happening along with all the protests against a war nobody wanted.

It was in the 60s that Frankie grew from a privileged teen in a conservative family expected to follow traditional paths, into a woman who shocks everyone by enlisting as a nurse and deploying to Vietnam.

Finley, her older brother, had enlisted wanting to make his parents proud. Frankie, after a chance encounter with Rye, Finley's best friend, decided she wanted to go too. This was after Rye told her "Women can be heroes".

The story explores her experiences on the front lines, where she witnesses the brutal realities of war, forms deep bonds with other nurses and soldiers, and falls in love. The tragedies that befall Frankie were common to many Vietnam veterans, and the author shows these explicitly in this story.

Frankie faced more disturbing things after returning home to a society indifferent, hostile and sometimes violent to those who served. "There were no women in Vietnam" is heard throughout the novel. No one believed she had been to war nor did they want to talk about it, especially her parents.

The author writes of Frankie's struggles with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), her unimaginable grief and what she goes through to find a way to heal, and reclaim her identity. All of this happened when Frankie was in her twenties, it is a powerful portrayal that the casualties of war are not only those who die.

As tragic as the events in this book are, there is an underlying sense of hope. Although I must say, the author goes heavy on the tragedies, a few too many for this reader. But, I do understand she wanted to highlight the difficulties the Vietnam War caused for those vets who made it home.

Frankie knows something is terribly wrong with her because she cannot control her anger, has outbursts that worry her parents and friends, and has horrific nightmares of her time in Vietnam. She does try to find help but is told more than once that "there were no women in Vietnam".

"There are no winners in war" This quote is from my debut #historical #fiction #novel, The Decision They Made. Some of my story is set in WWII and this line is said by one of my characters.

My debut historical fiction novel is set partly during WWII. Two sisters are torn apart by what happens to them during this war.

War is futile and it still rages in parts of the world. Have we not learned any lessons from the past? From the 'war to end all wars'? I sometimes wish we had leaders who are strong enough to band together and say "Enough is enough. Every nation has contributed to wars and it is time to draw a line and end all wars. It is time for peace."

Unfortunately, this could only happen in a fictional story. But then, we always have hope.

The Women by Kristin Hannah is a novel that highlights the tragedies of war and how no one wins. She uses strong female characters who form strong friendships. It is accurate on historical facts and for me, it took me into a world I knew about during my teens, but taught me more about what happened.

Have you read Kristen Hannah's The Women? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Happy reading

Maria P Frino