Overall Take:
I’ll be buying this book and gifting it to the strong women in my life. You need to get a copy.
Star Rating:
5 stars, I’d do more
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Synopsis:
The missing. The forgotten. The brave. The women.
Women can be heroes too.
Frankie was 21 and a recent idyllic nursing school graduate when she volunteered for the Army in order to Vietnam.
She didn’t expect the unexpected.
She didn’t expect to do two tours.
She didn’t expect to be forgotten when she got home.
“Women can be heroes”
Thoughts:
This book is probably the best book I have read in a long time. I took an entire class in college called “Vietnam War as History”, that was the title of the class, and I don’t think we talked about women in the war at all. But I mean, yeah of course they were there, and of course they saw devastating things. But do we talk about them? No. Are they really recognized? Also, no. This, is, not unlike many things women do, are just overlooked.
While this book is historical fiction, it is obvious that it is well researched, and many things are true. For instance, there are 8 women who died in Vietnam, and are shown on the Vietnam War memorial. Now no, out of 58,000 men, this is not a huge percentage, but women were present at the war too, and still were present, despite many being told otherwise.
I loved this story of Frankies life, from naïve teenager signing up for this horrific war, to seasoned nurse coming home from the war. The war didn’t magically end for her, or many others when she got home, and neither did the horrors, they just took a different form. I’m not usually one for coming of age, or life stories, but this book was just fantastic, and I felt so strongly for Frankie I wanted to know how things turned out for her.
The friendships in this book were pivotal. I don’t think that Frankie would have made it through the war without her friends, and she wouldn’t have come out the other side without them either. After the war the friendships didn’t end, they just took a different form, and they evolved. I loved that Frankie had these women in her life, and this book highlighted how important female friendships can be, and are.
This is one of those books that will make you feel sad for history, glad for how far we have come for women’s rights and give you an idea for how far we need to go. This book invoked so many strong feelings in me as I was reading it. Despite it being almost 500 pages, I didn’t want it to end, and I didn’t want to put it down, it was that good. Kristin Hannah is my go-to historical fiction author, and for good reason, her books are fabulous, and this one is no different.
This book is going to stick with me for a long time. I don’t normally order books that I have already read, as I don’t re-read, but I’m making an exception to this one. This is probably going to be one, if not the one, top read of the year. It’s worth owning. Buy it, read it, learn more.
This is a book that I will be recommending for years to come. It’s a must read.
Thanks for my copy to:
Thank you so much to St. Martins Press, @stmartinspress @SMPRomance and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date:
February 6, 2024
Author:
Kristin Hannah
Page Length:
480 pages
Publisher:
St Martins Press
Link to buy:
Affiliate link
