Kristin always writes with such imagery that you truly feel like you are there, experiencing in real-time the story she is bringing to life. This one tore my heart out so many times, but also brought some unknown history to life. Heartbreaking, eye-opening and one not to miss.
–Madison, Saltwater Bookshop, Kingston, WA
This novel about three Vietnam era nurses just swept me away with the honest depth and understanding of the role women do support in a war. The time described while in the hospitals in Vietnam and the sad homecoming for these ladies is so visceral. If you enjoyed WHEN WE HAD WINGS about the three nurses in the Philippines in WW2 you will love this one too. So well written and a great book club pick.
— Diane, Rediscovered Bookshop, Boise, ID
“Women can be heroes too.” That is what twenty-year-old nursing student Frankie McGrath heard, and she took it to heart. This powerful novel is set in the 1960s when the Vietnam war was dramatically altering a whole generation. Enlisted and draft men were at war, but so were doctors and nurses. When these brave people came home to America another war was happening, both politically and emotionally. Frankie came home to unnamed and unrelatable PTSD of what she saw and experienced in Vietnam, and to a community that was not supportive to people that served. Nurses especially, because they were women. Author extraordinaire Kristin Hannah brings us this important novel of sacrifice from all veterans that gave so much for their country.
–Kelly E., Village Books, Bellingham, WA
The Vietnam war has never felt as real and sharp as it did while reading The Women. Kristin Hannah pulled me under with this novel and wouldn’t let me go. Through Frankie’s combat nurse experience, her rocky return home, and her journey to find herself as a changed woman in a changed world, I learned more and felt more deeply for the Vietnam Vets I’ve known in my life and family. This is a stellar work of historical fiction.
–-Kate, Ballast Book Company, Bremerton, WA