I was provided an ARC by St Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest opinion, and I am so grateful!
Kristin Hannah is one of my favourite authors so I knew this book was going to be incredible. I was right. There is something about Kristin’s writing style that is so incredibly well done that captures her characters at their rawest forms. They are relatable, real and become such a huge part of my reading experience that my heart breaks for them. This book is no different.
Our main character is Frankie, a rich girl from Coronado who’s brother is heading to Vietnam to make their war hero obsessed father proud of him. Frankie doesn’t want the life she has been raised for, a wife, mother and homemaker. But it’s not until a friend of her brother lets her know that women can be heroes too, that she decides to volunteer as a nurse with the Army and make a difference.
What an incredible story. As a Canadian, the Vietnam war is not something I have a lot of knowledge about. I have seen images of the peacesigns and hippy protests but never fully understood how divided the United States was over the war overseas. This book is so well researched and explains how separated the veterans were from regular people safe at home and the trauma that they went through in country and then were forced to ignore and push down once they came home. The introduction of PTSD came about during this time as the suicide rate of Vietnam vets skyrocketed once they returned home.
My Great-Uncle Sam served in Vietnam. He never spoke of it to anyone. He died when I was young, and I only remember him as a warm silent presence in my childhood. It breaks my heart that he must have held such sadness inside of him.
Frankie’s story is incredible and heartbreaking, and tells the story of so many women who were not only forgotten about after the war but blatantly told “there were no women in Vietnam” as they struggle daily with their nightmares of the mass casualties they treated and the friends they saw die.
I cannot recommend this book enough. It broke my heart and then healed it as our characters piece themselves back together and find a new future, all while carrying their incredibly heavy grief.
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