The Women

by Kristin Hannah

The Women by Kristin Hannah hit the bestseller lists on publication in February 2024 in the United States. It’s set in the 1960s, and tells the story of a 20-year-old American woman who follows her brother to war in Vietnam. It shines a light on a topic not often focused on: the American women who served in Vietnam. In her author’s note, Hannah writes that the book “has been a true labour of love, years in the making…It has taken me decades to circle back to the Vietnam War era.” At the back of the book, there’s a list of memoirs by nurses who went to Vietnam that Hannah read for her research. This novel is just under 500 pages, but as you would expect from an author who has sold some 25 million copies of her books, it’s very accessible.

For a novel about the Vietnam War told from another neglected point of view, that of the North Vietnamese, we recommend The Sorrow of War (1991) by Bao Ninh.