Kristin Hannah's The Women follows Frankie McGrath, a nurse in Vietnam, from her decision to enlist through her service and the decades-long aftermath — a war that America refused to honour its women veterans for. Hannah's power is her willingness to sit with what war does to people without flinching or sentimentalising. These 10 books bring the same commitment to women's stories that history has usually told from the outside.
The Women is fiction, but based on extensive research into the real experiences of female nurses and veterans in Vietnam. Hannah has said she was moved by the relative invisibility of women veterans from the Vietnam era and the difficulty many of them faced in being recognised and treated for PTSD. The Women's Memorial in Washington D.C. features in the novel.
Most readers recommend starting with The Nightingale — it's her most structurally accomplished novel and the clearest demonstration of what Hannah can do at full power. The Women is the strongest of her recent work; Firefly Lane is the most accessible starting point for readers new to women's historical fiction.
The Women contains graphic depictions of combat injuries, trauma, and PTSD — it is an adult novel about the real costs of war. It's not appropriate for younger readers. For older teenagers who want to engage with Vietnam through fiction, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is the most canonical text, though also demanding.
The Alice Network (2017) is generally considered Quinn's best and most emotionally satisfying novel. The Rose Code (2021) has the most impressive research. Either is an excellent next read after Hannah.
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