It was a beautiful evening in May 1966 on Coronado Island, California, and the McGrath home was lit with candles and filled with excitement as they welcomed home Finley from his Naval Academy graduation. The party was filled with friends and family enjoying the atmosphere, music, food and beverages and his sister, 21-year-old Frances Grace (Frankie) was delighting in her brother. The two siblings had always been best friends and Frankie had been busy working toward graduating with her nursing degree and knew what was expected from her by her parents and church about the propriety she was to demonstrate for such an occasion. She knew Finley would be forgiven for arriving late with friends who had already had more than enough to drink. Different standards were the norm for men and women in the McGrath family.

Little did any of them know what lay ahead. Finley was off to Vietnam to join others sent there to keep Vietnam from Communism but he assured Frankie he would be back in no time even though the catch in his voice highlighted his fear of what might lay ahead.

Once the party had ended and Finley had gone, Frankie filled her days with pushing to finish her degree and write faithfully to her brother daily. His letters to her were lighthearted and with a deep longing to be with her brother, on impulse Frankie decided to volunteer to go to Vietnam to be with her brother. She had achieved honors in her nursing program and was excited to leave the expected role as the McGrath daughter and go on the path she had set for herself despite the objections she was certain her parents would voice.

Her surprise came with the discovery that the first attempt to volunteer was turned down since she had no experience as a nurse but she tried again despite being told two years of experience would be needed. Refusing to give up after a second service turned her down, on the third try the Army gladly accepted her.

New York Times Bestselling Author, Kristin Hannah, writes a powerful historical novel revealing the challenges women who served in Vietnam uniquely faced largely on their own and without support from those back home that didn’t even know they were serving there.

It wasn’t long after stepping off the plane in Saigon that Frankie realized she knew little of what lay ahead as she was assigned to an Evac Hospital and transported on a bumpy helicopter ride to her duty station. She felt out of place in her shiny combat boots and perfectly pressed uniform when she was dropped off in the steamy environs the tents that made up the Evac Hospital occupied.

The days and months that follow page by page of this gripping story will give an unvarnished (often raw) look at what Frankie or any other nurse faced. From the beginning as choppers brought wounded men into the compound she was thrust into situations for which she was unprepared from lack of nursing experience as well as what it would mean to serve in a war zone. Finley had told her nothing about this in his letters home. This would not be an adventure to share with her brother.

Not long after arriving she regretted her decision even more when she learned Finley’s helicopter had been shot down and he was dead. It had happened before she had even left California. She wondered if she could change her mind but there was no turning back now.

Other experienced nurses showed her to her hooch, told her what she needed to get rid of and how she needed to dress, where to go and that she was needed right now in the ER. It would be these other women who would teach her the skills needed there and the doctors who would take her under their wing showing her how to handle issues never covered in her civilian nursing program.

Frankie had no orientation but immediately was called on to jump in, learn, set aside her fears, and be prepared to work until the last choppers had brought in the men torn apart from their fight on the front lines. More often than she could have dreamt she was looking into the faces of young men who were mortally wounded, trying to provide care, and holding their hands as they endured the worst pain she could imagine. Those who were luckiest were sent to the main hospital in Saigon but far too many filled the body bags in the makeshift morgue.

The Women goes on to take the reader alongside Frankie not only exposing what she sees, hears, and does but also what happens to her mentally and emotionally as she shoves the horrors of war deep inside to be able to help those who need her so desperately.

This story will grip your heart and show you a part of the Vietnam War few heard about or knew. The nurses who served remain the unsung heroes of their service and you will meet others who serve with Frankie and equip her to be an indispensable part of the medical teams in Vietnam.