The Women
(Review, Recap & Full Summary)

The two-paragraph version: Frankie McGrath is a young woman from a wealthy family who enlists to serve in Vietnam and becomes a skilled surgical nurse over the course of two tours of duty. She becomes close with a doctor, Jamie, who is killed. She falls in love with a navy pilot, Rye, but he is killed just before returning home. When Frankie return home, she struggles to assimilate. Her service to her country is dismissed -- as being un-ladylike and because she was a non-combat veteran. She has a mental breakdown, but with the support of her friends and fellow former nurses Barb and Ethel, Frankie is able to find her footing as a surgical nurse again, reconcile with her parents and begins seeing a nice man.

However, when the war ends and the POWs arrive home, she realizes Rye is alive -- but that he was married and with a child the whole time. Distraught, Frankie goes on a downward spiral, getting suspended from work and taking pills, while she starts secretly seeing Rye who insists he will leave his wife. Frankie finally realizes Rye has been lying when his wife delivers their second child, and Frankie accidentally overdoses on pills. Frankie is taken to a treatment facility and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. When she leaves, Frankie starts over in Montana, buying a farmhouse which she turns into a ranch called The Last Best Place to serve as a refuge for women who served in Vietnam. In November 1982, she attends the unveiling of the Vietnam War Memorial and sees Jamie there who apparently survived his injuries.

In Part One, in May 1966, Frances "Frankie" Grace McGrath, 20, is a young woman from a wealthy family with a decorated military history whose brother Finley is about to ship out to serve in the navy in the Vietnam War, along with his best friend Rye Walsh. Finley is killed in action, but Frankie decides to enlists as a nurse. She attends Basic training and ships out in March 1967. She befriend two fellow nurses, Barb and Ethel. Frankie eventually becomes a surgical nurse, working with surgeon Dr. Jamie Callahan. They become close, but just before his tour of duty is complete, Jamie's helicopter is shot down and he is killed.

Soon, Frankie is reassigned to more dangerous location and is becoming an increasingly capable nurse. While Frankie's tour of duty is due to be complete in March 1968, she sees that her skills are needed there and decides to re-enlist. At a party, she is reunited with Rye Walsh, who is now a respected navy officer. Rye is initially engaged but breaks it off to be Frankie, and Rye decides to re-enlist so they can be together in Vietnam.

In March 1969, Frankie finally heads back to California after her second tour of duty comes to a close. Rye is due home in 27 days as well. Frankie struggles to reassimilate back home, plagued with nightmares from the war and the realities of hostile war protestors. She alienates friends and her parents are embarrassed of her war record. She is devastated to learn that Rye has been killed in action. After she gets fired from her hospital nursing job, she has a mental breakdown and leaves home after fighting with her parents. Frankie goes to the VA for help with her mental health, but is turned away since she wasn't in combat. Finally, Frankie calls Barb and Ethel in desperation. Ethel decides to move Frankie into the bunkhouse at her father's farmhouse so Frankie can have some time to figure out the next phase of her life.

Part Two opens in Virginia in April 1971. Frankie, now 25, is doing well and working as a surgical nurse. She's been staying with Barb and Ethel in the bunkhouse they remodeled into a two-bedroom cottage. Frankie is in D.C. with Barb attending anti-war protests when she learns that her mother has had a stroke. Frankie finally goes home and reconciles with her parents.

Frankie gets involved with an organization dedicated to bringing home prisoners of war, and begins seeing Henry Acevedo, a psychiatrist and anti-war protestor. When she becomes pregnant, they agree to get married. However, when the war ends and the POWs arrive home, she realizes Rye is alive. When she miscarries, she ends her engagement with Henry. Frankie begins to take a lot of pills, her work life begins to suffer and she gets suspended from work. Meanwhile, she begins secretly seeing Rye, who assures her he plans to leave his wife.

Frankie doesn't realize Rye has been lying until she learns his wife has just given birth to their second child. Distraught, Frankie accidentally overdoses on pills. In response, Frankie's parents check her into a treatment facility run by Henry, who tells her she has probably been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from her time in Vietnam.

Frankie spends the next few months in treatment. She then decides to leave and start over, purchasing a dilapidated farmhouse in Missoula. She takes in Donna, another nurse struggling with PTSD from Vietnam. Together they rebuild the property a ranch called the Last Best Place that serves as a refuge for women who'd served in Vietnam. The book ends with Frankie attending the unveiling of the Vietnam War Memorial and seeing Jamie there who apparently survived and is divorced now.

For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary.

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