Book Review: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Jennifer Jones

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided” – Goodreads

The Women by Kristin Hannah highlights the experiences of the Army nurses who were involved in the Vietnam War. Frankie, the daughter of a wealthy family, enlists as an Army nurse. This shocks her family and community, who cannot understand her decision.

Frankie’s time in the combat zone of Vietnam, soon takes a toll on her, as she faces dreadful wounds, napalm and the horrifying experiences of war. Her determination and strength keep her driving herself forward, and prevent her from breaking down. She is confronted by gut wounds, insecurity and the indifference of her family and friends at home.

Unexpectedly, Frankie finds that when she comes home, nobody realises, or seems to care about what she has been through. The Vietnam veterans are not treated as war heroes in their own country and Frankie has trouble settling back into the everyday life of her past.

My Thoughts

The chaos and misery come alive through the vivid word descriptions of the author. The chaotic misery of the Vietnam combat zone comes alive through the authors vivid descriptions. We get to witness the courage and compassion of the nurses as they do what they have to do, as quickly as possible to repair the horrors caused by war.

I loved the way that music was inserted into the story, bringing up memories of home for the nurses. In 1966, the year that this book is set, I was twelve years old. Even though I wasn’t even a teenager, the music referred to brought up so many memories for me. There were The Doors, The Beatles, The Turtles and many others.

I’ve read many books about war history, but never read anything about the Vietnam War. Even though I know some facts about the Vietnam War it really is the unknown war to me. After reading The Women, I understand much more about the war, the controversy and the experiences of the Army nurses.

In this book, Kristin Hannah has emphasized the importance of the experiences of women during the war, and their very real struggle to reassimilate afterward.

This is another book from Kristin Hannah that is well worth reading, and that explores the experiences of women in a difficult situation.

Quotes:
“I guess I have to feel lucky to have known him and to have learned from him. Too damn many lessons to learn over here, but one that’s for sure is this – life is short. I don’t know if I ever really believed that before. I do now.”

“Not much time here for grief, even though there is plenty of cause.”

Star Rating

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

The book mentioned in this post is of my own choice, and has not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

Have you read this book? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I promise to always reply to comments made below.

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This post is linked to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024

Book Review: Secret Sparrow by Jackie French

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Jennifer Jones

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Summary

There were women who fought during WW1, who were not nurses or ambulance drivers. This is the story of one of those women, Jean, who is a sixteen year old Post Office assistant in a small village in England. Jean wins a morse code competition, which leads to the British army offering her a secret position, in France, as a signaller. This was a very important job as the signals she was receiving and forwarding could win the war for Britain. After the war, all documents mentioning the women who did this work were destroyed, leaving no evidence of the role the women took in the trenches and the battles.

The story also goes ahead to decades later, when an old woman on a motor bike is rescued from flash floods by a young person. While they were waiting to be rescued, she tells him the story of her life, as a signaller, and about her experiences of the war, and the friends she lost.

Published 01 January 2023, by Harper Collins
256 Pages.

My Thoughts

As usual Jackie French’s historical novels are based on very thorough research. This story had me captivated from the start and, being a short book, I read it one night. There was no way I was going to put it down. I have read a couple of books about the female signallers, but had never read that they were unacknowledged by the army after the war. The author explains this and the difficulties she had in her research, in the author’s note in the back of the book.

Even though the women were working in the army, they were employed by the postal service, which meant there was no record at all that they existed.

The story goes between two timelines – during war time in 1917, and many years later when the story is told by the signaller, as an old person. The transitions between the two time periods were smooth and flowed naturally.

Based on a story, The Secret Sparrow is an amazing story of adventure and courage. This very important story, restores the record of the brave women who had an important place in history. The record that authorities tried to erase, has been restored.

This book is categorised at Young Adult, but don’t be deterred by that. It would be a great read for anyone over twelve and also for adults interested in the subject of war history.

Star Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

This post is linked to the historical fiction reading challenge run by The Intrepid Reader

The book mentioned in this post is of my own choice and has not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

Have you read this book? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I promise to always reply to comments made below.

To keep up with the latest book reviews, please pop your email into the box in the side bar. This will ensure you are notified of all updates.

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

The Lost Boys by Paul Byrnes #atozchallenge

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Jennifer Jones

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted.

The Lost Boys by Paul Byrnes: The Untold Stories of the under-age soldiers who fought in the First World War

Summary

In the First World War of 1914-1918, thousands of boys across Australia and New Zealand lied about their age, forged a parent’s signature and left to fight on the other side of the world. Though some were as young as thirteen, they soon found they could die as well as any man. Like Peter Pan’s lost boys, they have remained forever young. These are their stories. – blurb

This extraordinary book captures the incredible and previously untold stories of forty Anzac boys who fought in the First World War, from Gallipoli to the Armistice. Featuring haunting images of the boys taken at training camps and behind the lines, these tales are both heartbreaking and rousing, full of daring, ingenuity, recklessness, random horror and capricious luck.A unique perspective on the First World War, is military history made eeply personal, a powerful homage to youthful bravery and a poignant reminder of the sacrifice of war. – inside cover

My Thoughts

A heartbreaking record of the underage boys who enlisted for WW1. The information was taken from service records and family interview. There was quite a bit of speculation about the way things may have been but that is understandable, and gives colour and a personal touch to to the stories of these boys.
Photos of the boys in uniform are included. When looking at these photos, it’s very difficult to understand how recruiters could possibly have thought them to be over age. Most of the boys looked like baby faced young boys playing dress ups in soldiers uniforms. The sadness of that brought tears to my eyes.

A beautifully presented hardcover book with dustjacket. Black and white images of war are imprinted on the hardcover.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

About the Author

Paul Byrnes joined the Sydney Morning Herald in 1976, reporting from various corners of the world, for a decade, before specialising as a feature writer and film critic. He was director of the Sydney Film Festival for ten years, until 1998. In 2007, he won the Pascall prize, Australia’s highest award for critical writing in the arts. This book is the result of a lifelong interest in the First World War. He lives in Australia and France

Published in 2019 by Affirm Press. 364 pages including index

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All books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library, unless otherwise stated.

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Images and author information: Goodreads

#2020 Aussie Author Challenge