Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of vacation. Sun and fun. I actually got a tan this year! While I was hanging out in the sun, I did some reading, and I’d like to share the story with you. The cover and blurb are below.
A #1 bestseller on The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times!
From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
My Thoughts:
This is a story about the Vietnam War and how it affected the women who participated in it. It’s the story of a nurse who enlisted for a variety of reasons. One of those was to make her father proud. This is a story of a young girl who grew up with a father who glorified war. When she got to Vietnam, however, it turned out to be a culture shock. It was nothing like what her father described.
She makes it through a couple of tours and returns home to find herself despised for participating in the war along with the other Vietnam Vets. This tells the story of what not only the veterans went through but also the nurses who came back after a horrible experience to find they weren’t even acknowledged or appreciated.
This story is historical fiction, but I feel it’s close to what many of the nurses and Vets experienced during the war and when they came home. It’s a sobering tale, and I’d recommend reading to enhance your understanding of what the Vets and Nurses endured during that period of time.
Thanks for reading my post. What have you been reading? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!