The Women

"No fear, McGrath."

I’m not crying, you’re crying. Seriously, who’s cutting all the onions in here? I’m not one to get sentimental or teary when reading very often, but this one unexpectedly did me in. Fair warning, this is a sad book with many trigger warnings, but it’s a very good book.

Frances “Frankie” McGrath is the daughter of a well-to-do family from Coronado Island, who grows up very close to her brother. Her brother graduates, enlists in the military as men in the McGrath family do, and is sent to Vietnam. Frankie, feeling a need to do something more with her life, also enlists as a nurse to be sent to Vietnam. Her family is less than pleased (women, after all, don’t belong in the military), but she goes anyway. This book is about her experiences as a nurse during the Vietnam War, and the problems she experiences coming home again.

I’m going to reiterate here that this is not a happy book. It’s very much a gut punch all the way through, and while most of it is family/relationship drama, there’s a good bit of Vietnam and PTSD discussion as well. It’s very thought provoking about the experiences of women who served in Vietnam being even more forgotten and marginalized than men who served, while also making you want to cry and keep reading at the same time.

If I had to point out one thing I wish had been done differently, it would’ve been the very ending. Bringing Jamie back seemed gratuitously sad, like it was included just to evoke more tears in the last few pages. I have no problems with sad things, but it felt a little out of place and unnecessary with all the other sad things that had gone on. But that’s super minor and I know very personal, so I definitely don’t want to discourage anyone from giving this a read.

An easy addition to my 2024 favorites for this year.

 Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation.

This was my first Kristin Hannah book but it sure will not be my last. The way that she can make you feel so many emotions and so deeply is amazing. This book is about VERY heavy topics and you will cry your eyes out.

I was not alive when the Vietnam war was going on and did not know what our veterans had to endure when coming home. It was even harder for the women veterans who were basically told you are lying because there were not women in Vietnam or that they did not matter since they did not see combat. It breaks my heart that they had to endure all that after their amazing sacrifice.

Thank you Kristin for writing this incredible book and teaching me more about a time in our history that is not talked about near enough