Book Review for The Women by Kristin Hannah

 The Women by Kristin Hannah

Published: February 6, 2024 by St. Martin's Press

Genre:   Historical Fiction

 

Taken from Goodreads:  The missing. The forgotten. The brave… The women.

From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.

“Women can be heroes, too.”

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.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten. A novel of searing insight and lyric beauty, The Women is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose extraordinary idealism and courage under fire define a generation.

 

My Thoughts:  I have never read a book that made me feel like The Women does.   I felt like I was along side the women who were experiencing Vietnam.   I could feel their hope when they signed up that they would be making a difference to the men fighting the war.   I could feel their apprehension of leaving their homes and heading to a country that was foreign to them.   I could feel their fear as they stepped off the plane into a world that was nothing like what they expected.   I could feel their distress at what was happening at home, knowing that they did not have many people’s support for the war they were fighting. 

The Women is a story that reminds the reader of what a large part women had Vietnam. The Women is a story of the friendships formed during war and how those friendships withstood the horrors that were lived through both in Vietnam and once they came home.   

Kristin Hannah is the historical fiction queen.   She knows how to take history and bring it to life with her words.   With each book of hers that I read, she cements herself as a must-read historical fiction author.  

Thank you St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

 

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MeetKirstin Hannah (taken from her website):  Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, which was named Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction in the same year.  Additionally, it was a selection of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club in 2023. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week.  In 2018, The Great Alone became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller and was named the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads.

The Four Winds was published in February of 2021 and immediately hit #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstores’ bestseller lists.  Additionally, it was selected as a book club pick by the both Today Show and the Book Of the Month club, which named it the best book of 2021.  

 

The Nightingale is currently in production at Tri Star, with Dakota and Elle Fanning set to star.  Tri Star has also optioned The Great Alone and it is in development.  Firefly Lane, her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world, in the week it came out.  The popular tv show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke and Season Two is currently set to conclude the series on April 27, 2023.  

 

A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.