It’s the late 60s and Frances ‘Frankie’ McGrath is trying to find her place in the world. When her brother is shipped off to Vietnam, Frankie impulsively signs up to server alongside him as an Army nurse. With no actually clinical experience, Frankie is thrown into the middle of the chaos. But her time overseas is only half the story, and her return stateside has left her feeling even more unmoored from her peers. When the Veterans Affairs Office won’t even acknowledge women were in Vietnam and with no other support system in place other than her best friends and fellow army nurses, Frankie must find a way to live in her new reality. When the Veterans Affairs Office won’t even acknowledge women were in Vietnam,
Kristin has excellently portrayed the struggles of women and the aftermath they faced coming home. I felt so many emotions and though Frankie makes plenty of mistakes, I was rooting for her the entire time. I had a grandfather who went to Vietnam, and he never spoke about his time there, so to read this book it touched my heart and gave me a glimpse into a faction of what he may have come through. Add in the extra struggles women faced since not being recognized for even serving, let alone received appropriate care on their return home, and I’m just heartbroken for these women who grappled with such conflicting realities.
I’m always drawn to stories about women in the military, such as Beyond the Point. I come from a strong military family background; my grandmother was in the Navy before being married, I have a grandfather who was in the Army and served in Vietnam, another grandfather who was first in the Navy and then transferred to the Air Force when it was founded and served in WWII and Korea and both my parents are retired Air Force Colonels. You could say I’ve found myself pretty ingrained in the military world, though I never served. With that said, I’ve always found my grandmother’s stories of her time in the Navy to be fascinating, and though she joined in the late 70s/early 80s, my mother has some interesting stories about being a woman in a sea of men from her tenure.
While I read the majority of the book, the audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan was phenomenal. Either way you consume this story though will be highly impactful!
Kristin Hannah has done it again and made me feel every emotion in the book. Regardless of your ties to the military, Hannah has crafted a remarkable story about remarkable women doing things before their time. I can’t stop thinking about this story. It’s definitely one of my favorite reads for 2023 and I will be recommending it to everyone!
AMAZONĀ |Ā GOODREADSĀ |ā ā ā ā ā
The Women comes out February 6, 2024. Huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my advanced copies in exchange for my honest opinion.Ā Ā If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my InstagramĀ @speakingof.books.
