Summary of The Women by Kristin Hannah

In this post, you will find a summary of The Women by Kristin Hannah, a review, a character guide, and an explanation of the ending. The Women by Kristin Hannah is a historical fiction novel that looks at female nurses and their experiences in the Vietnam War and the years after. It is a powerful book that left me in awe.

As soon as I started this book, I knew it was going to be a powerful and poignant one. I wanted to make sure that I did not miss any details so I took notes on the plot and themes. I wanted to be able to provide you with a thorough summary and review.

If you are thinking about picking this book for your next book club, you can check out my post Powerful The Women Book Club Questions to help you out.

Summary of The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Women by Kirstin Hannah begins when Frankie’s brother Finley enlists in the Vietnam War, fulfilling the family tradition of serving their country. Growing up, their father could not serve but he maintains a wall of heroes that only includes men. Women are included on the wall when they get married.

Frankie enlists after being rejected twice and on that same day. When she gets home, she finds out that her brother has died. This devastates the entire family and now she must go to Vietnam. After going through basic training, Frankie arrives in Vietnam ill-prepared and with the wrong supplies. She immediately drinks the water and gets sick.

She settles into her hooch with the other nurses, Ethel and Barb who will later become her best friends, confidants, and sisters. On the first night in the hooch, she experiences an air raid where she meets a doctor named Jamie.

She starts in neuro under Captain Ted Smith and moves into surgery becoming more confident as a nurse. She works alongside and eventually falls in love with Jamie but she does not act on it because he is married.

On the day Ethel leaves, Jamie tells her he loves her but she does not respond because he is going on leave to see his wife. While on leave, his helicopter is attacked and he is injured badly. Frankie and the new doctor try to save him, but he has massive injuries and needs to be airlifted away. She writes “you fight” on one side of a rock and “Mcgrath” on the other and puts it in his duffle bag. As the helicopter takes off, Frankie watches as Jamie goes into cardiac arrest. The medic stops chest compressions and assumes that he is dead.

Throughout the war, she writes to her parents but only her mother writes her back. Her father never writes. Barbara gets her end date and she gets transferred with Frankie closer to the front lines. There is constant bombing and they are often operating without lights. They visit Saigon where they meet Rye Walsh, Finley’s best friend, at a party.

She dances with him and finds out he is engaged. She turns him down to spend time together because of his engagement. Barb is a Black woman and she teaches Frankie about civil rights before she leaves. Before Barb leaves, she encourages Frankie to have an affair with Rye. Frankie renews her tour of duty.

Rye tells Frankie that he is no longer engaged and they begin a relationship. She tells him she loves him before she leaves. He has 27 days left in his tour.

When she arrives home, she is unprepared for the backlash from the war. Rather than being treated as a hero, she is spit on by protesters and her parents barely talk to her. She brings a photo to hang the Hero Wall and her father refuses to hang it. She finds out her parents told everyone she was in Florence for two years.

She is suffering from severe PTSD, a term that had not yet been coined, and found herself in various situations where she was cowering on the floor terrified. Her parents were embarrassed by this behavior. She decides that she is going to throw a party for Rye’s return and finds out from his father that he is dead.

Frankie starts drinking and cannot get out of bed. Ethel and Barb come to save her. She gets a job at a hospital and is treated like she knows nothing. In the hospital, she performs an emergency tracheotomy and saves someone’s life, but is fired anyway.

She has a massive fight with her dad and destroys the Hero’s Wall. She accuses him of killing Finley and gets kicked out of the house. She gets into the car while drunk, and has a massive car accident and nearly kills someone. When she recovers, she goes to the VA hospital and is turned away. She is told she didn’t see combat and to forget about it and move on.

She calls Barbara and Ethel and moves to Ethel’s farm. Barb becomes an antiwar protestor and Frankie becomes a surgical nurse. All three live together on the farm. She and Barb start going to protests and the Wives of Vets program.

When Frankie finds out her mom had a stroke from one of the women at the program, she immediately goes home. She and her dad reunite and he gives her a house. She helps her mom and meets Henry, a psychologist and the two begin a romance. When she gets pregnant, Henry is ecstatic and proposes immediately. Frankie says yes even though she doesn’t love him.

Scroll down to see the ending with spoilers.

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The Women Review

The Women Ending Explained (With Spoilers)

The war is declared over and Frankie finds out that Rye is alive he was a POW. She leaves to meet him at the plane and sees him run to his wife and child. This is how she finds out that he got married. She has a miscarriage and cancels the wedding.

She starts to become slightly obsessed and when she sees him at the beach, she decides to follow him. She is having a lot of trouble adjusting to her new reality and gets suspended from work. She gets hooked on pills and starts an affair with Rye who tells her he loves her and proposes. Barb gets married but Frankie is pre-occupied with the idea of Rye.

Frankie soon discovers that Rye has no intentions of leaving his wife- she has just had a baby. Frankie is so distraught that she drives drunk drives and almost kills someone. She realizes that she is addicted to pills and almost commits suicide when she hallucinates and wanders into the water following a vision of her brother. She wakes up in an ambulance with her father beside her. He saved her life and she realizes she needs help.

She is put in the psych ward for addiction where she explains that she went to the VA for help multiple times. Henry is in charge and promises to give her the help she needs to start her road to recovery.

Frankie finally is able to start healing and moves to Montana to help other Vietnam nurse veterans. When the DC memorial for Vietnam vets is finally created, Frankie goes for the memorial unveiling. She sees her parents there for Finley. Her dad acknowledges that she is a hero and apologizes for how he treated her.

Frankie looks over and sees Jamie! He still has the rock! He tells her “Remembering you got me through”. Jamie is no longer married and named his daughter Francis.

Cue the tears.

Character Guide for The Women by Kristin Hannah

Main Characters

• Frances (Frankie) McGrath- Main character and nursing student. Enlists to serve in Vietnam as a nurse
• Ethyl Flint- ER nurse, Frankie’s friend and hooch mate
• Barb Johnson- A Black surgical nurse and Frankie’s best friend. She transfers to stay with Frankie

Family/ Friends

• Finley McGrath- Frankie’s brother, killed in Vietnam
• Connor McGrath- Frankie’s Father, maintains the McGrath family wall
• Better McGrath- Frankie’s mother, comes from old money.
• Rye Walsh- Finley’s best friend. Reunites with Frankie in Vietnam

Medical Personel

• Captian Ted Smith- Doctor in the ward for Frankie’s first months in Vietnam
• Jamie Callahan- Surgeon, they fall in love before Frankie watches him go into cardiac arrest while being airlifted away due to injuries
• Henry – A psychologist who helps Frankie. The two become engaged later in the book

Shop for The Women by Kristin Hannah

What to Read After The Women by Kristin Hannah: Book Recommendations

Frequently Asked Questions

Epilogue

As you can tell from the summary of The Women, I love this powerful book. Did you find this helpful for jogging your memory? Did you like this book as much as I did?