The Women
Powerful and heartbreaking, the eagerly awaited novel everyone is talking about for 2024
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4.7 • 85 Ratings
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
An instant Sunday Times bestseller and soon to be a major motion picture!
'Astonishing. Compelling. Powerful' – Delia Owens, bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing
'Stuns with sacrifice. Uplifts with heroism' – Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
‘Powerful’ – Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library
From the worldwide bestselling author of The Four Winds, The Nightingale and Firefly Lane (a Number One series on Netflix), The Women is a story of devastating loss and epic love.
It would be the journey of a lifetime . . .
‘Women can be heroes, too’. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California’s 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 path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the young 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 America. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.
Readers love The Women:
'It honours ALL women: those who have fought for their rights and freedoms, those who have been overlooked and underappreciated, those who have been forgotten by families and society'
'I’ve been looking forward to this book’s release for months'
'Kristin Hannah has done it again'
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
When Frankie leaves for Vietnam in 1967—a recent recruit to the US Army Nurse Corps—she is already grieving. And the decision to serve will bring more grief into her life than she could have imagined. The Women is unflinching, tender and full of justified rage as it tells the story of how going to war both makes and breaks Frankie, in ways that will reverberate for decades to come. In Vietnam, she finds purpose, destruction, love and betrayal—both political and personal. The novel is realistic about the horrors of war, and touches on the specific horrors perpetrated by the US in Vietnam, as it sheds light on the often-forgotten women who went there and the life-saving work they did. It is never less than gripping.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hannah's emotionally charged page-turner (after The Four Winds) centers on a young nurse whose life is changed by the Vietnam War. Before Frankie McGrath begins basic training for the Army in 1966, her older brother Finley is killed in action. Frankie excels as a surgical nurse in Vietnam and becomes close with fellow nurses Ethel and Barb. After Ethel's tour ends, Frankie and Barb gets assigned to the base at Pleiku, near the Cambodian border, where some of the heaviest fighting occurs. There, she reunites with Navy officer Rye Walsh, Finley's best friend, and they become lovers. When Frankie returns to the U.S., she's met with indifference for her service from her parents, who are still grieving her brother's death, and disdain from people who oppose the war. She leans on alcohol and drugs while struggling to acclimate to civilian life. Though the situations and dialogue can feel contrived (Rye, after announcing he's re-upping, says to Frankie at the close of a chapter, "I'm not leaving my girl"), Hannah's depictions of Frankie tending to wounded soldiers are urgent and eye-opening, and a reunion of the three nurses for Frankie's benefit is poignantly told. Fans of women's historicals will enjoy this magnetic wartime story.
Customer Reviews
100% Recommend
Just loved this book! 100% recommend. So poignant, such an amazing story
Outstanding
A very compelling and emotional read!!!
Beautiful.
Beautifully told story of a young girl who goes to Vietnam. Accurate, heart wrenching and difficult to put down.