Historical fiction runs the gamut from romance dressed in old style clothes to carefully researched engaging stories set in the past. Kristen Hannah’s latest novel The Women occasionally comes close to the first, but deftly pivots to provide a moving and fact based novel.
As Hannah has matured as a writer she felt she could finally tackle an idea she had nurtured for many years. As a teenager she was aware of the Viet Nam War as it came into her home on the nightly news. She longed to tell the story of the nurses stationed throughout fighting zones to minister to the immediate needs of the wounded, both military and civilian, before they were sent on to a larger hospital. As she finished her last novel, historical fiction set in Paris in World War ll, she dove into the stories of these nurses.
What strikes the reader most strongly reading about the nurses’ “in country” experiences and their PTSD(unacknowledged)when back home is the failure of many, including at the Veterans’ Administration, to recognize that there were indeed women in combat in the war. While they weren’t fighting in the bush, they were dealing with soldiers’ horrendous wounds from that combat in the field “hospitals” to which the nurses were assigned. Their constant witness to casualties, both grave and fatal, affected them deeply.
I previously cited an earlier novel of Hannah’s, The Four Winds, the story of one woman set in the American drought known as the dust bowl. In The Women she also focuses on one woman, allowing the reader to fully, perhaps sometimes too fully(I took breaks in reading) to know how it was to be there. Hannah leaves the reader with deep appreciation for all who were sent to fight and serve in a war that many Americans still regard with contempt. I had never reexamined my own views of that conflict and found myself changed. For the better I must add.
Saved By Words 
If it changed your views or challenged them, then that is a powerful recommendation indeed, Elizabeth.
(Off topic, I wanted to let you know that we had to have Ollie put to sleep very early on Tuesday morning. We are both heartbroken of course. It was 8 days after his 12th birthday.)
Best wishes, Pete.
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Lately I have enjoyed having my views challenged by things like this. I have also benefited from Unherd which another blogger linked me to. Your Redflagflying also informs me. (I sent a note about Ollie)
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Thank you professor.We value your opinion.😘
P&B
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LOL
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Thank you.
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You are welcome. I continue to try to read about places outside of the U.S.
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This looks like a book I must read, thanks for the recommendation
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You are welcome.
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Gosh Betsy, I am in the middle of reading it and can hardly put it down. I set aside painting for a while. What an arresting book. Life there during the Vietnam war. This seems so well researched.🥰
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It is well researched which is why I always like Hannah’s historical fiction. Each of the last three books of hers I have read have been this realistic. I am glad you find it so good also.
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I love all the books of hers I read so far.🥰
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Me too.
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Excellent review, Elizabeth. War never really leaves us. Hubby feels like Vietnam was 20 years ago. I think our parents felt the same way about WWII.
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Reading the book put me right back there.
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The attitude towards Vietnam vets is rather tragic as the youngsters were conscripted and often, unwilling. The perspective of a nurse would be interesting.
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It is an excellent view of the war with much sympathy for the very young men who were there.
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❤️🔥
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I also had to put this book down at times,difficult to read but made me reevaluate my thoughts about this war, especially the nurses that served.
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