The Women
by Kristin Hannah
Macmillan

Francis ‘Frankie’ McGrath had recently graduated as a nurse in 1966 when her older brother Finley volunteered to do his part in the Vietnam War – continuing the long tradition of the men in their family serving their country in various wars and being awarded for their valour.

Frankie was close to her brother and they had had a privileged upbringing on California’s Coronado Island. Sheltered by wealth, their conservative parents had brought her up to ‘good girl’ who would marry well, live well and have a beautiful family.

But times were changing and, when her brother ships out, Frankie decides that she wants to be a hero as well and volunteers to join the Army Nurses Corps to follow him to Vietnam.

Frankie and the reader get thrown into the deep end of the chaos and horror of war in a hospital in the middle of the war zone. Then Frankie is told to make sure her will is up-to-date and write her parents a nice letter before being transferred to a hospital closer to the fighting.

While the rest of the world was all “about music and hippies and the so-called Summer of Love”, LBJ was sending boatloads of young men, many who had only 6 weeks’ training, to Vietnam to die. Frankie’s days are of endless hours toiling in horrific conditions in an attempt to save lives, or at least make sure the men die peacefully.

Frankie discovers the value of female friendship and has her heart broken while trying to save, not only the soldiers, but also the Vietnamese villagers who need to be treated for the appalling consequences of land mines and napalm. She also visits orphanages full of children with other medics in their time off.

As the conflict progresses, it intensifies and people back home protest against the war and burn their draft cards. Frankie eventually returns to a country that didn’t want to hear about the war and people who insisted that there were no women serving in Vietnam.

Kristin Hannah dedicates her powerful novel to the women who weren’t allowed to tell their stories; whose dedication was marginalised and forgotten; who were made to feel shame instead of celebrating their strength and resilience and who made a real difference.

Lezly Herbert

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