The Women by Kristin Hannah is historical fiction at its best.

This extraordinary and captivating account of the women who served in Vietnam wrapped me up and would not let me go, occupying my thoughts for several days after the last pages were read.

Set in Vietnam and California, the story zeros in on Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a young nurse who volunteers her service shortly before her brother dies in combat.

Naive and privileged, Frankie has little to prepare her for the horrors of war. Her return home is also far more difficult than she expects. There is no hero’s welcome for the war veterans.

Public sentiment towards the war has turned and people openly spit on her in the street. Even her parents are embarrassed, preferring to pretend she has been studying abroad.

Society has little sympathy nor understanding of what the war veterans have been through. They come home physically and emotionally damaged and Frankie finds herself on a new battlefield.

She must fight to find herself again if she is going to survive the stranglehold of trauma on her life.

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