The Women by Kristin Hannah, Healing Wounds-Cpt. Diane Evans

Publication February 6, 2024-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction-480p

Book Summary

The missing. The forgotten. The brave… The women.

From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.”

When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten. A novel of searing insight and lyric beauty, The Women is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose extraordinary idealism and courage under fire define a generation.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Women tells the story of a generation of young men and women grieving the loss of their innocence in Vietnam and the bonds of female friendship created between the nurses who served.

Kristin Hannah relaxes readers in the tropical setting of the lush, privileged lifestyle in Coronado, California in the late 1960’s. Just as readers are settled into the lavish parties, simple childhood activities like bonfires, beach rides and surfing, Hannah’s main “woman” Frances McGrath decides to become a nurse and follow her brother, Finley, to Vietnam. The gut punch descriptions of disgusting conditions at the Thirty-Sixth Evac hospital suck readers right in with the hot, sticky, bug ridden, rat infested living quarters. Readers will be squirming, squealing, and gagging along with the nurses as Frankie’s days and nights run into each other and she evolves into a highly regarded combat nurse. The historical background supported by Hannah’s years of research is evident in the intricate details of the jungles, scenes from helicopters, and villages visited for medical assistance, including the lifesaving operations and amputation scenes. The actual names of identifiable places are retained in the novel; Saigon, Ho Chi Minh Trail, Pleiku, Base Long Binh, and the hospitals. Hard to read; harder to believe that soldiers, doctors, and nurses had the courage and stamina to survive and endure. The turbulent world comes alive, and readers will need a break along with the nurses and doctors!  

The plot continues with Frankie returning to the U. S. after two tours in Vietnam. At the airport she is shamed and spit upon and readers relive the protests, sit-ins, and despicable treatment of the returning veterans. Hannah reveals the maddening and frustrating responses during the post-war years as Frankie seeks help with anxiety, anger and guilt.  The development of Frankie’s mom, “held together with vodka and hairspray,” and her guilt-ridden, workaholic dad takes readers to the depths of grief from a parent’s point of view, while they grapple with Frankie’s depression and addictions. Strong plot threads are of Frankie’s relationship with her parents, the unwavering support and encouragement from her “women” from Vietnam, Ethel and Barb, and the loves of her life.

Kristin Hannah recreates this world of the late 60’s, early 70’s as she weaves social, political, and historical details of American culture into the plot smoothly and seamlessly. “Back in the world” as the Vietnam soldiers referred to the U. S, a few of the pop music icons were Elvis, The Beach Boys, and The Beatles. Long hair, moustaches, and polyester leisure suits on men, and miniskirts, hot pants, and ironed straight hair on women were the thing! The papers were filled with the latest Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton feud, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr, the election of Nixon, the first landing on the moon, the Paris Peace Accord, and the trial of Lt. William Calley at My Lai.

There are gaping wounds because of the treatment of the women and men who served our country during the Vietnam War. Reading The Women will certainly be a reminder to acknowledge men and women soldiers with, “Thank you for your service,” no matter when or where they have served.

 Freedom is bought with sacrifice. The Women-5 Stars

Songs and Artists from The Women:

East Coast Girls, These Boots are Made for Walking, Monday-Monday, Come on Baby Light My Fire, When a Man Loves a Woman, Happy Together, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Purple Haze, Good Lovin, We Got to Get Out of This Place, Hey Jude, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Born to Be Wild, John Denver, American Pie, Nights in White Satin, Elvis, Time in a Bottle, Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Roberta Flack, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Hooked on a Feeling

HEALING WOUNDS BY CAPTAIN DIANE CARLSON EVANS

What is the price of honor? It took ten years for Vietnam War nurse Diane Carlson Evans to answer that question—and the answer was a heavy one.

In 1983, when Evans came up with the vision for the first-ever memorial on the National Mall to honor women who’d worn a military uniform, she wouldn’t be deterred. She remembered not only her sister veterans, but also the hundreds of young wounded men she had cared for, as she expressed during a Congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.: “Women didn’t have to enter military service, but we stepped up to serve believing we belonged with our brothers-in-arms and now we belong with them at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. If they belong there, we belong there. We were there for them then. We mattered.”

In the end, those wounded soldiers who had survived proved to be there for their sisters-in-arms, joining their fight for honor in Evans’ journey of combating unforeseen bureaucratic obstacles and facing mean-spirited opposition. Her impassioned story of serving in Vietnam is a crucial backstory to her fight to honor the women she served beside. She details the gritty and high-intensity experience of being a nurse in the midst of combat and becomes an unlikely hero who ultimately serves her country again as a formidable force in her daunting quest for honor and justice.