At 20 years old, Frances “Frankie” McGrath trades the beaches of Coronado, California, for the Central Highlands of Vietnam when she joins the Army Nurse Corps with the hope of following her brother there—and a dream to make her family and country proud.
In Vietnam, Frankie meets Barb and Ethel, two seasoned combat nurses who show her the ways of the war. Together, they spend 18-hour days in operating rooms and field hospitals piecing together the wounded and holding the hands of the dying.
The trauma and devastation of Vietnam follow Frankie home. After two tours, she comes back to a family that denies her service and a fractured country certain that “there were no women in Vietnam.”
Through the horrors and uncertainty of the war, these women forge a bond that endures well beyond the conflict. Kristin Hannah spoke to Goodreads contributor April Umminger about the forgotten history and triumph of women and a story nearly 30 years in the making.
