The Women : A Novel (Hardcover)

A #1 bestseller on The New York Times . USA Today . Washington Post . and Los Angeles Times!

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 over-whelmed 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.