The Women

I love getting recommendations from people, and a dear friend who is always reading something fabulous mentioned how much she was enjoying this book. My curiosity was immediately piqued, as 'The Women' focuses on the unsung female nurses in Vietnam whose presence sent so many young men home to their families. Sadly, upon returning home, their participation and sacrifice were barely acknowledged. I had yet to learn that part of the book would take place in Pleiku, in the central highlands of Vietnam, where my father served in the army and was awarded a Bronze Star. The reason we love reading is that it can allow us to have greater empathy by helping us walk in another person's shoes. My dad never talked about Vietnam, and it’s strange to say, I never gave it a lot of thought until I read this book.

It gave me a renewed respect for the women and men who gave their lives, what it cost them, and what it must have felt like to return home to a complete lack of disrespect alongside the trauma, heartbreak, and PTSD they suffered. Delia Owens puts it beautifully by saying, 'Never had a novel of war metamorphosed so profoundly into a story of the human heart.' Frankie McGrath and the characters in this novel will stay with me for many years to come. Thank you to all the veterans who served so bravely.

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