The Women Study Guide

Kristin Hannah was born in California, but when she was eight, her family relocated to Snohomish, Washington. Hannah earned her communications degree from the University of Washington in 1983 and went on to study law at the University of Puget Sound. Hannah’s first novel was a collaboration with her mother, who was dying of cancer during the writing. Though the book was never published, after working for several years as an attorney in Seattle, Hannah returned to writing while on bedrest during her pregnancy. Since then, Hannah has written more than 20 novels, publishing her first book, A Handful of Heaven, in 1991. Known for expertly crafting tearjerkers, Hannah’s work is typically characterized as historical fiction and the Pacific Northwest makes frequent appearances in her novels. Her first New York Times bestseller, Firefly Lane, was published in 2008 and has since been adapted into a Netflix series. Hannah’s most well-known work, The Nightingale (2015), has sold over 4.5 million copies and has been published in 45 languages. Many of Hannah’s novels have been featured by popular book clubs, including the Reese Witherspoon Book Club, the Today Show, and the Book of the Month club. Hannah lives on Bainbridge Island off the coast of Washington with her husband and son.

The Vietnam War was a violent conflict fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies from 1955 to 1975. The war began after the Geneva Accords of 1954 established Vietnamese independence and demarcated the northern and southern regions along the 17th parallel. Vietnamese communists led by Ho Chi Minh took control of North Vietnam and began arming the Viet Cong, southern dissidents who engaged in guerilla warfare against South Vietnam’s United States-backed government. In 1965, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the U.S. significantly increased their military presence in Vietnam, aggressively bombing the north and using herbicide to destroy the southern jungle vegetation which the Viet Cong used for cover. For many years, Johnson and his successor Richard Nixon escalated American involvement in the war, leading to an estimated loss of 58,000 U.S. service members and 1 to 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. Opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam was widespread among student activists who were vulnerable to military conscription, and developments like the Tet Offensive and the My Lai massacre increased the American public’s disapproval of the war. In 1971, thousands of veterans threw their medals of honor onto the steps of the United States Capitol in protest. In 1973, the Paris Peace Accords pulled the remaining U.S. troops out of Vietnam, which reunified in 1976. Post-war, many veterans struggled to reintegrate with society and faced significant psychological problems. 

Kristin Hannah’s bestselling novel The Nightingale (2015) explores similar themes of women’s experiences of historical events­—in this case, the Nazis’ invasion of France. Tatjana Soli’s The Lotus Eaters (2010) provides a slightly different wartime perspective by following an American photojournalist as she captures the fall of Saigon and grapples with loyalty and love. For another fictionalized account of the women who lived through Vietnam, Alice McDermott’s 2023 novel Absolution explores the war’s long-term impacts on military wives. Danielle Steel’s Flying Angels (2021) showcases the oft-neglected experiences of women flight nurses who saved lives during World War II. Readers interested in the stories of combat veterans should read Tim O’Brien’s acclaimed novel The Things They Carried (1990), based on the author’s experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. Diane Carlson Evans’ Healing Wounds: A Vietnam War Combat Nurse’s 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington D.C. (2020) details Evans’ vision and advocacy for the construction of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial. Finally, Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam (1983) by Lynda Van Devanter is a first-person account of a nurse serving in Vietnam.