Wow. What an incredibly powerful book that looks at war head on and all the effects it can have - on those who served, survived, those who lost loved ones, those who couldn't cope, post traumatic stress syndrome, even Agent Orange.

I haven't really read anything much about the Vietnam war - I was a young girl in Britain at the time, our parents were glad our country stayed out of the fight. I'd seen MASH on TV and that was about it. This book takes you right into the conflict through the eyes of Frankie, a well-heeled American girl who goes out there to nurse the wounded. And the author brings all the horror of attacks and woundings and atrocities straight to the reader, loud and clear. The second half sees Frankie back home, but not to a hero's welcome by any means, as we explore how America had first shielded its people from the numbers dying and the battles lost, and then refused to acknowledge those who returned, making them feel shameful. And to totally disregard the women who served - Frankie is told over and over, by those who should have known better, than no women served in Vietnam.

The author gives a voice to all those who served, willingly or otherwise, and turns the spotlight firmly on the women who didn't go to fight for glory, but were there to mop up the consequences. It reads so well, and has obviously been carefully researched. A real page turner but by the end I was struggling to read for the tears in my eyes.

A triumph of a book. Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another fantastic novel by Kristin Hannah! Well researched and heartbreaking, The story of army nurse Frankie McGrath shows us the role of women in the Vietnam conflict, the futility of war and the struggles of veterans upon their return to the States.

Another great read from Kristin Hannah - fast becoming one of those go-to authors where you can be guaranteed a well-written and relatable slice of history. This time, the Vietnam War and the less explored angle of the impact on women. I'm not surprised it has been optioned as a movie, as it is so visual.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the ARC.

Not sure that I have enough superlatives for this one but I'll give it a go...
The Women is a profoundly moving, raw, yet strangely beautiful work of art!. Kristin Hannah has the ability to completely transport you to the world that she creates and she appeals to the senses so powerfully: in this book the smells and sounds are as evocative as any sights described.
Dealing with the harsh realities of the Vietnam war, this is not a fluffy read - it is often unashamedly hard-hitting as you live with what Frankie and her nursing friends experience but whilst it chronicles the horrors of war and loss, it also celebrates the power of friendship and the ability of humanity to survive and to make connections in seemingly impossible circumstances. It is about loss but also about love; about unwavering support but also how we can let one another down; it is about the strength of family but also its frailties; it is about betrayal but also about lifting one another up; it is about unspeakable cruelty but also about kindness and healing. Frankly - it has everything!
Now, I need to go and find me some friends like Barbs and Ethel and Kristin Hannah - get busy - because I'm going to need another great book like this very soon!

This is one of the most profound books I have read. It details the experiences of a nurse in a M*A*S*H in Vietnam in graphic and heartfelt detail, but the explores how this nurse suffered from PTSD before it was recognised as a condition. She then experienced prejudice as her service in Vietnam was not recognised.: “There are no women in ‘Nam” as well as the betrayal from those people she felt closest to. I don’t like descriptions of books saying they are heartbreaking, but this book genuinely fits the bill. It takes you through a rollercoaster of emotions yet comes to a fulfilling end. I liked the fact that it is well researched and based on the personal experience of nurse veterans. It is well worth a read

Wow. Wow.wow. A must read.

The story follows Frankie, a good catholic girl who has led a sheltered and privileged life until she signs up to be an army nurse in the Vietnam war so she can follow her brother. What follows is her experience of war and all its horrors and the aftermath of trauma when there is a little support available. Compelling and wonderful.

Wow! What an unbelievable story! This is one of the best books I’ve read in along time, the contents of which will stay with me. The story gripped me from page one and sent me on an emotional rollercoaster of emotions. I loved the book was in two parts and was fascinated by the role of the women and Frankie’s story in the Vietnam war, The author really captured this well, along with the struggles and everlasting friendships, so much so . I could not put the book down a definite page turner! It was in part two (and not knowing the history) that was just so powerful, informative, a miss carriage of justice to say the least. The journey Frankie went on to finally be recognised as a hero and a woman of war had me sobbing at the end and also cheering for justice. Loved the pictures of the memorial in Washington, when I visit I will certainly be going to see it. You’ve brought a story to the forefront that will touch so many hearts, praise to the author.

I thought this was an amazing book. Lots of detail about the Vietnam War and the issues it raised in the US during and after the war. I learned a lot!
There gruesome scenes in the operating rooms which may put some readers off.
It kept me awake after reading the first part when the main character gets to Vietnam and i read it almost without stopping until i finished in tears! I found an understanding of the effects of trauma - not really recognised at the time and also empathy with the ignored nurses. The central character has huge difficulties in adjusting to life after Vietnam.
Definitely recommended.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Kristin Hannah's new novel, The Women, and I was very excited to start it.. It absolutely didn't disappoint. It has been a while since I looked up from a book and found out it was gone 1 a.m. - time just flew. Powerful, gripping and heartbreaking - I will never forget this book.
I was intrigued by the idea of a novel set during the Vietnam war in the 1960s/70s, as I was a kid at the time and I remember it. It provides a previously untold insight into the experiences of an Army nurse in a field hospital, and much more. A large section of the book explores what life was like for the women returning to a country they did not recognise, and where their service was not recognised. Both halves of the book were shocking in very different ways.
The three nurses we come to know and love were all so different but their bond and friendship is core to the book. Frankie is a rich Californian girl, Ethel is a farm girl from Virginia and Barb is a black young woman from Chicago who had an even bigger fight to fight on her return to the US. All of them were really good and complex characters.
Hannah always delivers and she has certainly done so again here. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all readers (men too) and it would be a brilliant Book Club read. If you only read one book this year - this is it!

This was my second Kristin Hannah novel and unfortunately it wasn't my favourite. This surprised me as I absolutely adored The Nightingale when I read it and remembered thinking how powerful the novel was.

What I enjoyed about this book was the vivid detail of the location and how you could see, smell and feel everything. Kristin Hannah has a knack for describing scenes in a simplistic yet beautiful way and it's what makes her books so great. With similar themes to the Nightingale, I love the key message that women played a big part in wars, despite rarely hearing their stories.

Where this book fell down for me was Frankie's character, the pacing and the the dialogue between characters. Frankie's reactions to things felt VERY mild considering what had occured and it all felt very unbelievable at times. As for the dialogue, it felt like I was watching a cheesy 2008 American war film. Cliché and very patriotic.

It was also incredibly predictable in parts... particularly the coming back from the dead scenarios.

Unfortunately this fell very flat for me and I struggled to get through it. I still really like Kristin Hannah as an author and I will pick up what she writes in the future. The Women was just not for me!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for a review.

This is a stunning achievement from Kristin Hannah. I've read several of her pre novels and feel she's a reliably 'good read'. This novel charting the journey of Frankie a nurse who joins the Army to serve in Vietnam is exceptional. I have seen the documentary 'letters home' in the BBC in 1987 and read the book with the letters from armed men and the nurses so was a little prepared but it is an emotional rollercoaster of a novel.

Read it knowing the history of the war ( the background to my childhood) and a box of tissues.

Highly recommend

Another fantastic novel by Kristin Hannah. She has to be my favourite author.
This book taught me things I never knew about the Vietnam War, and I am grateful for the education. Hannah's graphic descriptions had me right there with the main character, Frankie. I could see what she saw and felt her pain and emotions. I was reading with tears streaming down my face at what Frankie went though. The book is long, as are most of Kristin Hannah's books, but I didn't want it to ever end.

Huge thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC

"The Women" tells the story of a young American woman, a recent nursing graduate, who volunteers to go to Vietnam, following her older brother whom she adores, and with the intention of making her parents proud of her.
Kristin Hannah, with her masterful storytelling, weaves a story of drama and transformation divided into two very different parts. The first part of the book immerses us in the harsh realities of war, following Frankie's journey and her evolution from an innocent and well-meaning young girl to a person deeply affected by the horrific experiences she has lived through in the emergency room. In the second part we see Frankie's return to America, where she is greeted with hatred, her family is ashamed of her, and everyone urges her to forget her time in Vietnam. We witness her descent into hell and her painful recovery.
While reading the story I had my ups and downs with the story. First of all, Frankie's family background is not to my taste, as belonging to a wealthy family, whose only concerns are how the rest of society sees them, did not seem appealing to me at first. On the other hand, the trio of Frankie, Barb and Ethel in Vietnam is very powerful, and I would have liked the novel to be a choral one, dealing with the lives of the three of them on their return to their country.
However, having finished it a couple of days ago, and having let it rest, the truth is that the story has left a very good impression on me, although not at the level of other works by the author.
Many thanks to publisher Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy in return for an honest review.
"The Women", narra la historia de una joven americana, recién graduada en enfermería, que se hace voluntaria para ir a Vietnam, siguiendo a su hermano mayor al que adora, y con la intención de que sus padres se sientan orgullosos de ella.
Kristin Hannah, con su maestría narrativa, teje una historia de drama y transformación dividida en dos partes muy diferentes. La primera parte del libro nos sumerge en la cruda realidad de la guerra, siguiendo el viaje de Frankie y su evolución desde una joven inocente y bienintencionada hasta una persona profundamente afectada por las horribles experiencias que presencia y vive en la sala de urgencias. En la segunda parte vemos la vuelta de Frankie a Estados Unidos, donde la reciben con odio, su familia se avergüenza de ella, y todos la instan a que olvide su etapa en Vietnam. Somos testigos de su descenso a los infiernos y su dolorosa recuperación.
Mientras leía la historia tuve mis más y mis menos con la historia. En primer lugar el entorno familiar de Frankie no es de mi gusto pues que perteneciera a una familia rica, cuyas únicas preocupaciones fueran cómo los ve el resto de la sociedad, en principio no me parecía atractivo. Por otra parte el trío que forman Frankie- Barb- Ethel en Vietnam, es muy potente, y hubiera deseado que la novela fuera coral tratando las vidas de las tres en su vuelta a su país.
No obstante, habiéndolo terminado hace un par de días, y habiéndolo dejado reposar, lo cierto es que la historia me ha dejado muy buen sabor de boca, aunque no a la altura de otros trabajos de la autora.
Muchas gracias a la editorial Pan Macmillan y a NetGalley por facilitarme una copia digital a cambio de una reseña honesta.

Kristin Hannah is the writer of such amazing books as The Nightingale and The Four Winds so when I got the opportunity to read this book, I was very excited and it didn’t disappoint. This was very different to her other books. Very compulsive reading – I couldn’t put it down – but emotionally quite traumatic. It felt less like a novel, and more like a friend recounting their true like experiences of their time during the Vietnam war and the aftermath in the USA.

Frances ‘Frankie’ and her brother were extremely close, and lead very charmed lives. The men in the family were expected to do their duty, and so when her brother signed up and went to war in Vietnam, he was hailed a hero. When Frankie hears that women can be heroes too, she wants to make her father proud, and signs up to be a nurse in Vietnam, despite the fact that she has very little nursing experience in America. In Vietnam Frankie finds herself – she makes best friends for life, she finds she is an excellent theatre nurse, and she finds love – albeit within the backdrop of the most horrendous experiences of war. The problems really start when Frankie comes home. Terrifying nightmares, being spat on in the street, and with her parents ashamed of her service rather than proud of her. This was the truth, and reality of many women and men who came back from serving their country. Sometimes in life you have to hit rock bottom before you can claw your way back up.

A sometimes harrowing account of an army nurse’s time in the Vietnam war, and the aftermath. It shows the importance of best friends with shared experiences who will be there for you no matter what. All I can say is wow – this is the most incredible book and I recommend it as a ‘must read’.

Frankie is your regular twenty-year-old woman in the 1960s, on the path of becoming a nurse and soon getting married. All her life, she has heard about the men in her family serving the country and having their photo framed in their home on the wall called the hero’s wall. When her brother goes to serve in Vietnam, she hears an acquaintance tell her that ‘women can be heroes’, so she decides to join the Army Nurse Corps and go to Vietnam to serve her country. But Frankie has no idea what lies ahead of her.

I loved the way Kristin wrote about Frankie’s journey! The way she explored her ambitious naivety and her determination to help the injured comrades and deal with the cruelty of the war. My heart broke for the women serving in the war. I could feel Frankie’s emotional turmoil throughout, especially after she came back home from the war. The frustration she felt for the mistreatment of the veterans and when nobody believed her when she said she served in the war. She was baffled by the dismissal of their efforts and their pain. Frankie had to find herself in the patriarchy. She had to raise her voice to tell the world about the forgotten women who served in the war and how they weren't recognised.

I Love! Love! Love! the friendship between Ethel, Barb, and Frankie. This is what girl friendship is all about. I can read about them forever. It was beautiful to see them have each other's backs. They supported each other when there was no one to rely on. Everyone needs friends like Ethel and Barb in life.

The Women was brilliant! It was an emotional rollercoaster. This book explores so many topics like patriotism, hope, betrayal, friendships, PTSD, loneliness, death, and addiction, and it was dealt with beautifully. Everything was so well written. It's so good. I am having trouble expressing my thoughts. 'The Women' is the kind of book I would think about often.

Gripping. This stark and unflinching book transported me to the sights, smells and sounds of the carnage in Vietnam, and made me feel Frankie’s horror and bewilderment along with her.
Young Frankie McGrath holds herself to high standards. More than anything, she wants her parents to see her as heroic, like her brother and the other family members on her dad’s Heroes’ Wall. When she returns, traumatised after her experiences as a combat nurse, it practically breaks her to find her sacrifices seem to have been in vain. Far from being proud, she’s an embarrassment to them. Even her country is ashamed of its veterans who lost their youth and innocence along with their lives in the conflict. Male veterans and civilians alike refuse to acknowledge the contribution and losses of women who served.
If not for the selfless friendship of those women who served along with her, who knows where Frankie might have ended up? Ultimately she, her parents and her country need to learn, along with the veterans, the true cost of American foreign policy in Vietnam, and to find ways to begin healing.
This is a powerful book and one I will remember. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A thought provoking, powerful, engrossing story that will have you hooked as soon as you pick it up.

The Women is an amazing story about the women who played an important part in the Vietnam war as army nurses. How they coped during the war, how they were treated when they returned home, and the struggles they had to try and return to normal life.

Another knockout book from Kristin Hannah.

Thank you Netgalley.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6241292376

A really beautiful and moving book about the Vietnam war, as well as being a cracking read. I was emotional while reading it and teared up several times. 4.5 stars and it would have been 5 if the latter half, while still great, had lived up to the intensity of the first half. In short, one of my favourite books of the last few years and I will be reading more from the author shortly.

Thanks to her, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is Kristen Hannah’s best book yet. It’s a very well written story about Frankie McGrath’s time as a nurse in Vietnam and what happened when she got home. I’m old enough to remember the 1960s and 1970s but never realised how the veterans were treated on their return home. It’s brutal, gory and upsetting. But it’s a great story and one that tells it like it was. Well done.

I enjoyed this book a lot.

Part 1 was brilliant and reading about Frankie and how she grew as a young woman in ‘Nam and the bond of friendships she made while there was amazing.

Part 2, for me, was a little drawn out but still good.

This is an emotional read at times and I think would make a brilliant movie.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #PanMacmillan for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.