The Women by Kristin Hannah

Rating: 5 star rating 

An unforgettable, heartbreaking masterpiece you won't be able to put down!

The Women by Kristin Hannah is an emotional ride. It is a powerful historical fiction book that follows Frankie McGrath, a sheltered girl from California who joins the Army Nurse Corps in 1965 to follow her brother to Vietnam.

The first half throws you into the trenches with her. Frankie becomes an incredible surgical nurse working under chaos, surviving horrific mass casualties and heartbreak. She loses her mentor and crush, a surgeon named Jamie Callahan, and a pilot friend named Rye Walsh. The only things keeping her together are her fellow nurses, Barb and Ethel, who become her lifelines.

The second half completely broke my heart. When Frankie comes home, society shuns her, and everyone tells her that women weren't even in Vietnam. She spirals into severe, undiagnosed PTSD, turning to alcohol and pills to numb the flashbacks. She hits rock bottom until her dad steps in and saves her life, checking her into a hospital. In a huge twist, the doctor running her rehab facility is her ex-fiancé, Henry, who helps diagnose her trauma and gets her on the path to healing.

Thankfully, there is a beautiful sense of closure. Frankie moves to Montana to start a ranch refuge for other female veterans called "The Last Best Place." The book wraps up in 1982 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C., where Frankie finally gets the recognition she deserves, and she even runs into Jamie Callahan, who miraculously survived his crash years ago. It ends on such a hopeful note of true healing and peace. You will definitely need tissues for this one.  

I recommend this wonderful book.

I purchased this book for myself. All review opinions are my own.

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