The Women - Kristin Hannah - Top Book Pick!

Historical Fiction

Rating: 8/10

Kristin Hannah has done it again. Delivered a deeply moving and intimate story with spectacular characters. Her latest takes us into the Vietnam war from the perspective of military nurses.

As newly minted nurse Frances mourns the loss of her brother to the conflict, she remembers one of the last things he ever said to her, “Woman can be heroes.” Raised in an idyllic and privileged world, she believes she has more to contribute and signs on to be a battlefield nurse. With no real understanding that what is going to be asked of her is incomprehensible.

Along the way she makes friends and falls in love, all while finding reserves of strength she never imagined in herself. She will come to understand that maybe being happy now is all you can ask for. And she learns that she will save lives every day, plenty of them, but not all of them.

The author illustrates beautifully how much this generation lost, youthful hopes and dreams extinguished before life could even truly begin. And how the women struggled with their service being dismissed as “not combat”, as it certainly felt that way as they were mired in blood and death. As they made gut wrenching decisions while offering comfort to the dying.

In this book they have a voice and it’s saying, we were there. An acknowledgement and tribute long overdue.

Book Pairing(s): Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Homecoming by Kate Morton, The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch