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The Women
by Kristin Hannah · 2024
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Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant.…
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"The sure touch of ‘Golden Voice’ narrator Julia Whelan transforms Kristin Hannah’s absorbing novel about Vietnam War combat nurses into an addictive listen. As the novel interweaves historical research with the characters’ Vietnam and postwar lives, Whelan’s intensity and warmth help listeners empathize with the personal and understand the big picture. (15 hours) Throughout December, AudioFile editors will be focusing on the best books in different categories in their ‘Behind the Mic’ podcast , starting with fiction on December 5th."
"“You’re only going to be a nurse until you get married,” her mother said. But Frankie McGrath had other ideas, ones that would lead her away from her wealthy family’s conservative outlook on how daughters should behave. Kristin Hannah’s The Women follows young Frankie’s transformation, when after working as a nurse in California and tending to a wounded soldier, and missing her soldier brother, she joins the Army as a nurse. That takes her from a comfortable life of known expectations to one of the chaos and danger of war, new career opportunities and love. Tangled love. When Frankie returns home, she finds her country still protesting the war and those who served. The Women shines a light on a then-little-known aspect of the war: the women who also served in Vietnam, as nurses."