Fans of historical fiction are no stranger to Kristin Hannah. I first fell in love with her writing with “The Nightingale,” and when “The Women” was announced, there was no doubt I needed to read it.

In her recent novels, Hannah focuses on a historic event and/or time period, which is how she shines. “The Women” tells the story of Frances “Frankie” McGrath, an Army nurse who serves in Vietnam.

Frankie grew up on an island in California in a family with a proud military background. When she attends her brother Finley’s going away party before he ships out to Vietnam, she has a pivotal conversation with Finley’s friend Rye who reminds her that women can be heroes too.

She decides to enlist to be with her brother and to hopefully earn a spot on the “heroes wall” in her father’s office. Frankie knew she wanted to help people and trained to be a nurse.

When she arrives in Vietnam, Frankie learns quickly that she’s in over her head, especially when she experiences her first mass casualty. Her roommates, Barb and Ethel, quickly take her under their wings and she develops thicker skin and saves the lives of hundreds of soldiers.

The first half of the book that covers Frankie’s time in Vietnam was the most compelling. It is clear that Hannah spent ample time researching veteran experiences, culture, geography and military terms in order to tell the story as accurately as possible, even though the characters are made up.

Hannah wasn’t afraid to show the ugly sides of war. She touches on napalm attacks, men who lose appendages and civilians who suffered terrible deaths.

When her service is up, she is afraid to go back to “normal” life and leave behind her time in Vietnam where she made a difference.

About midway through, Frankie comes home to an unforgiving world, a culture of people who not only hate the war, but call Vietnam veterans “baby killers” and refuse to believe there were women serving there. Even her parents are ashamed of her service and lied about where she was in order to protect their reputation.

Frankie suffers with post -traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction, among many other struggles. About three-fourths of the way through, I got irritated with the drama involving the men in her life. It started reading like the plot of a Lifetime movie.

Luckily, this period was short-lived and it was just a minor plot that didn’t add or take away from the overall theme. Hannah takes readers through Frankie’s journey of healing and again, isn’t afraid to touch on the harsh topics like suicide.

Despite the small patch of irritation, the book was well researched, beautifully written and compelling while still maintaining an important message: That women can be and are heroes too.

I encourage anyone to pick up “The Women” and similar books as they are a way to learn about the past while still immersing themselves in a compelling story.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com