The Women by Kristin Hannah

 I am sure that Hannah intended this to be a way to awaken us all to the contribution made by the female nurses in the Vietnam War.  The horrific scenes of the war and the conditions medical personnel lived through clearly explain their sacrifice. But the book is really more about what happened when they, or in this case "Frankie", returned to a country hopelessly divided on the war.  Frankie comes from a privileged background full of naval heroes - an honor she cannot share in the 1960's because she is a woman. She choses nursing specifically to enter the war and prove that thinking wrong. But like many who survive the horror of war, she finds that survival does not mean peace. Most of the story is how the very young innocent Frankie falls in and out of love both in Vietnam and at home. Another big part is about the friendships she makes with fellow nurses during the war - two women who would never have been in her social circle but are essential to her growing up.  They were very interesting characters and I wish their choices had been better developed. Telling just one story from a very privileged life perspective is probably far from the harder reality of the large number of women who served. "Women" needed a bigger lens.