The Women by Kristin Hannah

 Kristin Hannah is the writer of such amazing books as The Nightingale and The Four Winds so when I got the opportunity to read this book, I was very excited and it didn’t disappoint. This was very different to her other books. Very compulsive reading – I couldn’t put it down – but emotionally quite traumatic. It felt less like a novel, and more like a friend recounting their true like experiences of their time during the Vietnam war and the aftermath in the USA.

Frances ‘Frankie’ and her brother were extremely close, and lead very charmed lives. The men in the family were expected to do their duty, and so when her brother signed up and went to war in Vietnam, he was hailed a hero. When Frankie hears that women can be heroes too, she wants to make her father proud, and signs up to be a nurse in Vietnam, despite the fact that she has very little nursing experience in America. In Vietnam Frankie finds herself – she makes best friends for life, she finds she is an excellent theatre nurse, and she finds love – albeit within the backdrop of the most horrendous experiences of war. The problems really start when Frankie comes home. Terrifying nightmares, being spat on in the street, and with her parents ashamed of her service rather than proud of her. This was the truth, and reality of many women and men who came back from serving their country. Sometimes in life you have to hit rock bottom before you can claw your way back up.

A sometimes harrowing account of an army nurse’s time in the Vietnam war, and the aftermath. It shows the importance of best friends with shared experiences who will be there for you no matter what. All I can say is wow – this is the most incredible book and I recommend it as a ‘must read’.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6256550015