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The Women

By: Kristin Hannah
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kristin Hannah
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Publisher's summary

"Kristin Hannah’s potent storytelling skills are brilliantly served by narrator Julia Whelan, whose limber, low-pitched voice moves nimbly from person to person, capturing personality and mood, her empathy palpable."—The Washington Post

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

©2024 Kristin Hannah (P)2024 Macmillan Audio
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Mic Check with Julia Whelan

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Interview: Kristin Hannah’s "The Women" spotlights our complicated memory of the Vietnam War.

'Frankie is probably my favorite character I've ever written...'
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  • The Women
  • 'Frankie is probably my favorite character I've ever written...'

Editorial Review

Cue the ugly crying
Kristin Hannah has the unique ability to take a well-known historical event and intimately weave it with such a deeply human story that it turns everything you thought you knew on its head. In The Women, Hannah pays tribute to the nurses who served in the Vietnam War, using her heroine Frankie McGrath as a vessel. Frankie begins the story as a naive young woman, full of misplaced optimism, but quickly becomes the sort of steady and focused nurse you’d want in your corner. I love Frankie. I feel like I know Frankie. And as I’ve come to expect with Kristin Hannah, each time Frankie’s heart got broken—whether it was in war, in love, or in homecoming—mine did as well. The incomparable Julia Whelan performs this sweeping and poignant novel that has settled in my chest and refuses to leave, even though it’s been weeks now since I heard the final words. — Audible Editor, Katie O.