Sisterhood of Reading

The Women- Kristin Hannah

Rating- 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Format- Hardback
Genre- Historical Fiction

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Women can be heroes

Before Frances “Frankie” McGrath heard those words, she was living a sheltered life. As a 20-year old nursing student, she had never thought about life outside of her small community. When her brother graduates from the Navel Academy and gets shipped off to Vietnam, she decides that she needs to also do something with her life. Without telling anyone, she enlists in the Army as a nurse. It isn’t until her brother is killed in action shortly after that she thinks she may have made a mistake. It is too late now to change her mind, she is headed to Vietnam.

When Frankie lands in Vietnam, it is unlike anything she ever imagined. She is met by Ethel and Barb, two nurses who have been in Vietnam for a while. The three of them form a bond that will last a lifetime. With their help, Frankie really comes into her own. She gains confidence and excels as a surgical nurse. When Ethel’s service comes to an end, Frankie and Barb are transferred to one of the most dangerous post. With all the fighting going on in that region, they see the true horrors of war.

After two tours in Vietnam, it is time for Frankie to go home. When she arrives, everything looks exactly the same, but nothing is the same at all. Her father is ashamed of her for joining the army, her mother has turned to alcohol after her brother’s death. They don’t want to hear anything about Vietnam. Frankie herself is struggling. She was not prepared for how she would feel readjusting to civilian life. She has PTSD, she has nightmares, she feels lost. Her cries for help fall on death ears. Multiple times she goes to the VA to ask for help and she is told that it is only for veterans, she cannot possibly be a veteran because she is a woman and ‘there are no women in Vietnam.’ With no resources available to her, she turns to drugs and alcohol to cope. When she finally reaches her breaking point, it is her friends Ethel and Barb that save her.

When she finally starts to heal, she knows that she wants to help other women that were in the same situation that she was in. These women served their country and when they returned were dismissed, pushed aside, and forgotten about. Frankie is able to create a space when women can heal and they can begin to get their lives back.

The Women is a 5-star read. Kristin Hannah tells this story beautifully. It is the story of women who served their country, the bonds of friendship, and women who became heroes. Kristin Hannah does an amazing job of writing about women that have otherwise been forgotten. I recommend this book to everyone!

The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.