BOOK DETAILS :
- Publisher : Macmillan (6 February 2024); The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
- Language : English
- Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1035005689
- ISBN-13 : 978-1035005680
- Reading age : 18 years and up
ABOUT THE AUTHOR :
Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Her newest novel, The Women, about the nurses who served in the Vietnam war, will be released on February 6, 2024.
The Four Winds was published in February of 2021 and immediately hit #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstore's bestseller lists. Additionally, it was selected as a book club pick by the both Today Show and The Book Of the Month club, which named it the best book of 2021.
In 2018, The Great Alone became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller and was named the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads.
In 2015, The Nightingale became an international blockbuster and was Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People's Choice award for best fiction in the same year. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week.
The Nightingale is currently in pre-production at Tri Star. Firefly Lane, her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world, in the week it came out. The popular tv show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke.
BOOK REVIEW :
"The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn't quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there."
Kristin Hannah has built a reputation for emotionally charged, historically rich novels, and “The Women” continues that tradition by shining a light on the often-overlooked role of female nurses during the Vietnam War.
At its heart, The Women follows Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a young nurse from a conservative military family, who enlists in the Army Nurse Corps after her brother is deployed to Vietnam. What she encounters there is far from the patriotic ideal she was raised to believe in—brutal injuries, impossible medical decisions, and the raw, unforgiving realities of war. Hannah vividly captures the chaos of war zones, the camaraderie among nurses, and the heartbreaking disillusionment awaiting soldiers and medical personnel when they return home.
One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its portrayal of female friendships. The bonds between Frankie and her fellow nurses are some of the most powerful moments in the book. These women uplift and support each other, forming a surrogate family in a world where they are often dismissed, disrespected, or outright erased from history. Hannah also does an excellent job of highlighting the injustice faced by female veterans—denied recognition, medical benefits, and even acknowledgment that they served at all.
However, despite these strengths, The Women falters in execution. While Hannah successfully evokes emotion in many scenes, the pacing often feels rushed, preventing readers from fully connecting with key moments. Frankie’s responses to major life events—such as the death of her beloved brother—feel strangely subdued, and the novel often relies on clichés rather than deep character exploration. The romantic subplots, in particular, overshadow what could have been a more powerful war narrative, with Frankie falling into instant, often melodramatic relationships that lack emotional weight.
“The Women” is a gripping but imperfect novel. It succeeds in bringing attention to a forgotten chapter of history and offers a heartfelt tribute to female veterans, but its reliance on melodrama and rushed storytelling prevents it from reaching its full potential.
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Overall Ratings: 4.8/5⭐
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