The Women
Kristin Hannah, 2024
Historical fiction Contemporary fictionHistory
A sheltered California girl becomes an Army nurse in Vietnam, and discovers a war that will not stay far away. The story moves with a nurse’s urgency through wartime chaos, close friendships and a young woman’s shifting sense of self, with a steady undercurrent of dread.
Feels like dread and hope. About war, identity and family.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy historical fiction centered on women’s work and identity during the Vietnam era. Be aware that the war scenes and the dread running through them make this a heavy read, not a light escape.
Why read it
It puts you beside a sheltered young woman as she learns what war asks of nurses and how the home front keeps its distance.
A page from the book
The futures that were considered acceptable for a girl, listed in three words.
Teacher. Nurse. Secretary. These were acceptable futures for a girl like her. Only last week her mother had listened to Frankie talk about her struggles in upper-level biology and said gently, Who cares about frogs, Frances? You’re only going to be a nurse until you get married. And by the way, it’s time you start thinking about that. Quit rushing through your classes and slow down. Who cares if you graduate early? You need to date more. Frankie had been taught to believe that her job was to be a good housewife, to raise well-mannered children and keep a lovely home. In her Catholic high school, they’d spent days learning how to iron buttonholes to perfection, how to precisely fold a napkin, how to set an elegant table. At the San Diego College for Women, there wasn’t much rebellion among her classmates and friends. Kristin Hannah.Before writing, Kristin Hannah practiced law in Seattle; she published her first novel in 1991.
Books that feel like this
More by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah, 2015
Two sisters in occupied France discover how ordinary choices can become courage, betrayal, and survival.
The Great Alone
Kristin Hannah, 2018
A girl, her fragile mother and a Vietnam-scarred father inherit forty acres of Alaska — a story about how far love will drive a family.
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah, 2021
Texas, 1934: a woman nobody at home ever wanted walks out into the Dust Bowl and decides how much she is willing to endure.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Women for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy historical fiction centered on women’s work and identity during the Vietnam era. Be aware that the war scenes and the dread running through them make this a heavy read, not a light escape.
- What is The Women like?
- The story moves with a nurse’s urgency through wartime chaos, close friendships and a young woman’s shifting sense of self, with a steady undercurrent of dread. Feels like dread and hope. About war, identity and family.
- What should I read after The Women?
- If you liked The Women, try Lilac Girls (Martha Hall Kelly), The Things We Cannot Say (Kelly Rimmer) and Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Sepetys).
A taste of the feed
The consolation a parent leaves behind: a flower that needs winter to bloom.
Caroline wiped her cheek with the back of her gardening glove, leaving a dark smudge below one eye, then pulled off her gloves. ‘But it’s fitting in a way - Father loved the fact that a lilac only blossoms after a harsh winter.’ Caroline reached over and smoothed the hair back from my brow with a light touch. How many times had my mother done that? ‘It’s a miracle all of this beauty emerges after such hardship, don’t you think?
Lilac Girls · Martha Hall Kelly
What goes missing when a family stops asking questions?
What happens when stories like theirs are lost? What happens when there’s no one left to pass your experience on to, or you just can’t bring yourself to share it?
The Things We Cannot Say · Kelly Rimmer
The morning a boy's life is priced, and the price fits in a pocket.
Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch.
Between Shades of Gray · Ruta Sepetys
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