The Women

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4.6(2,112,675)

In 1965, nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath leaves her sheltered California home and joins the United States Army Nurse Corps after her brother is sent to Vietnam. Young and inexperienced, she is assigned to evacuation hospitals where mass casualties, limited resources and rapid decisions force her to become a highly capable trauma nurse.

Frankie returns to an America divided over the war and unwilling to recognise women as veterans. Memories of the wounded, bereavement and betrayal follow her into civilian life, where official silence and social expectations deepen her isolation. The novel traces both frontline service and the difficult aftermath of homecoming, recovering the contribution of military nurses while examining trauma, friendship and the unequal remembrance of war.