Kristin Hannah wrote her best selling novel, “The Women”, to share the story of the courageous female nurses who served in Vietnam. “Frankie” serves with resilience and returns traumatised after her experiences, only to be discounted and even disowned by her own countrymen. Kristin Hannah is known for her meticulous historical research and her ability to take the reader into the heart of her characters’ emotional development.
“The Women” takes this to a new level as it speaks directly to each of us. We journey with Frankie into the unknown, learning that it is often the unsung heroes who reveal the true resilience of humanity.
Kristin Hannah’s “Frankie” is a character we all desperately want to befriend.
When we first meet Frances “Frankie” Grace McGrath she is a sheltered, but feisty, young woman living in California in the 1960s who understands what is required from her: to be “the very portrait of a well bred young lady”. Her father has a wall in his office with pictures of all the “heroes” in the family, but the only women on the wall are brides on their wedding day.
The message is clear: men are heroes and the highest possible achievement for a woman is to marry one.
When Frankie’s brother enlists in the Vietnam War, she knows he is going where she cannot follow. Everything changes when Frankie finds herself standing in her father’s office with her brother’s best friend, Rye, and he says, “Women can be heroes… I mean it, Frankie. It’s 1966. The whole world is changing.” Kristin Hannah, the Women. Frankie begins to wonder if he is right.
“No-one had ever suggested any future for Frankie beyond marriage and motherhood.” Kristin Hannah, the Women
Frankie begins to question her family’s perspective on the world and to wonder if she, even though she is a woman, can do something worthy of a place on the “heroes wall”. She begins to consider her interest in nursing as more than just a place holder for marriage but as a vocation that could actually make a difference in the world.
“How did a woman go about opening up her world? How did one begin a journey when no invitation had been issued?” Kristin Hannah, The Women
The novel follows Frankie’s journey to Vietnam, her first hand experience of adjusting to life in country, navigating unimaginable atrocities and discovering friendships and experiences that will change her forever. She struggles with addiction and the need to regain her mental health after the war, finding herself unable to get help in the same way as other war vets, because her role in the war is not acknowledged. She is consistently told “there are no women in Vietnam”.
“The Women” is not just a fictional account of Frankie’s personal journey but a tribute to the true unsung heroes of the Vietnam and, indeed, every war.
Kristin Hannah says she was told first hand by nurses who had served in the Vietnam war that, at the time, most people believed “there were no women in Vietnam”. Nurses were not mentioned in newspapers and headlines, but they served their country in the same way that soldiers did: by working on the front lines and saving lives while risking their own.
“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, The Women
Even though most of Kristin Hannah’s readers are lucky enough never to have been to war, we are able to relate to Frankie in ways we may not admit. We have made choices to priorise others over ourselves. We have been told to play small and, in many cases, we have listened. Even if just for a season, we have pushed our dreams and aspirations down and have not taken the leap we need to to follow our dreams. If that’s you, “The Women” will give you the courage you need.
Kristin Hannah has written a book that not only celebrates the courage and determination of women at the front line, but speaks to those of us who long to make a difference with our lives. It helps us to grieve our mistakes and our losses and to break free from living for the approval of others to become who we are destined to be.
“She’d joined the war to find her brother and found herself instead. In war, she’d found out who she really was and who she wanted to be.” Kristin Hannah, The Women
The Women: Suggested Book Club Questions
- Frankie is repeatedly told “there are no women in Vietnam,” and comes home to find her service dismissed or disbelieved. How does the novel use that erasure to comment on whose wartime experience gets remembered ? Where do you see echoes of that today?
- The novel frames the late 1960s “freedom” against 1950s “conformity” for women like Frankie’s mother Bette. Did you find Frankie’s generation genuinely freer, or did the book complicate that idea?
- Frankie’s addiction and mental health struggles are as central to the book as the war scenes. Did Frankie’s journey through the novel earn that arc? How did this affect your sympathy for her?
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