Author: Kristin Hannah
Performed by Julia Whelan
Published: February 2024 by Macmillan Audio
Category: Historical Fiction based on Fact, War, Vietnam
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An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the powerful and heart rending story of war and its aftermath, following the fortunes of Frankie McGrath. It was 1966 and the war in Vietnam was escalating. Frankie and her brother Finley had had a sheltered upbringing and were as close as a brother and sister could be, but now Finley was going off to war and Frankie was bereft.
‘Women can be heroes’
No one had ever said such a thing to her. Not her teachers at St Bernadette’s, not her parents. Not even Finley. Why had it never occurred to Frankie that a girl, a woman, could have a place on her father’s office wall for doing something heroic or important, that a woman could invent something or discover something or be a nurse on the battlefield, could literally save lives?
The idea of it was like an earthquake, an upending of her sheltered view of the world, of herself. She’d been told for years, by the nuns, by her teachers, by her mother, that nursing was an excellent profession for a woman.
Frankie’s lot in life, according to her mother, was to marry well, be a good wife, have a lovely home and raise well mannered children. She graduated with honours and became a registered nurse. Looking in on a soldier on her nightly rounds, having a conversation and hearing something of his story was the catalyst that changed the course of Frankie’s life.
Although Frankie is the focus of this story, the story also highlights the many women who went to Vietnam, some of whom didn’t return. Those who did couldn’t understand why their service went unrecognised, why they weren’t considered veterans and certainly not heroes. “There were no women in ‘Nam” was the usual refrain.
The Women is an incredibly moving, perceptive and well told story, not least because it reflects the futility of war, but also the realities of the women who chose to go to war, served their country and went above and beyond to make a difference, which they undoubtedly did. Many men went home alive who probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. Not only that, the America the women returned to wanted to forget about the war, and instead of a welcome home the veterans were insulted and condemned by the protesters.
The Women also shows how those military nurses who returned home were affected by PTSD, which wasn’t then recognised as an illness. There was help for the men but none for the women. Many of them turned to alcohol and self medication to ease the trauma, although the friendship and tight bond between Frankie and her two best friends, Ethel and Barb who were also vet nurses, was her one lifeline when things got particularly tough.
The characters are very realistic and believable, brought even more to life incredibly well by Julia Whelan’s narration. It’s an emotional, intense and ultimately uplifting story.
Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Her newest novel, The Women, about the nurses who served in the Vietnam war, was released on February 6, 2024. 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 bookstore’s 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.
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. In 2015, The Nightingale became an international blockbuster and was Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction in the same year. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week. The Nightingale is currently in pre-production at Tri Star. 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.
A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.
