Historical Fiction · Free kit
The Women
In 1965, Frances 'Frankie' McGrath is a twenty-year-old nursing student from wealthy Coronado, California, raised to be a good girl in a world that tells her women belong at home. When her brother Finley dies in Vietnam, Frankie makes an impulsive decision that will change her life: she joins the Army Nurse Corps and ships out to a war zone. In Vietnam, she discovers her calling, her strength, and friendships that will last a lifetime—but coming home proves far more difficult than she imagined. Facing a country that dismisses her service, nightmares she can't escape, and trauma no one will acknowledge, Frankie must fight for the recognition she and her fellow women veterans deserve. A searing portrait of women at war and the long journey home.
“Women can be heroes, too. They'd told her that, and she'd believed it. She'd gone to war to prove it. But no one wanted to hear her story.”
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The Women Icebreakers
Answer in under 30 seconds. These connect to the book’s themes without spoiling the story.
Personality Reveal
1. When someone tells you 'you can't do that,' are you the person who proves them wrong or the person who avoids the fight?
Personality Reveal
2. Are you more like Frankie (impulsive, driven by emotion) or Ethel (steady, practical, protective)?
Personality Reveal
3. Do you believe friendships forged in crisis are stronger than those built in ordinary life, or is that romanticizing trauma?
Funny & Light
4. Have you ever made an impulsive decision that completely changed the direction of your life?
Funny & Light
5. What's one story from your life that people dismiss or don't take seriously—even though it shaped who you are?
Funny & Light
6. Have you ever felt invisible in a room full of people who should have seen you?
Would You Rather
7. Would you rather serve in a war and be dismissed when you come home, or never go and always wonder if you could have made a difference?
Would You Rather
8. Would you rather have a love that burns out fast and leaves you devastated, or never feel that intensity at all?
Would You Rather
9. Would you rather be recognized for something you did decades ago or build a quiet life where your impact is invisible?
Hot Take
10. Hot take: The hardest part of trauma isn't surviving it—it's coming home and realizing no one wants to hear about it. Agree or disagree?
Hot Take
11. Finish this sentence: 'A hero is someone who _______.'
Hot Take
12. Hot take: You can't fully move on from the past until someone acknowledges what you survived. True or false?
Personal Connection
13. Who is someone in your life whose service or sacrifice went unrecognized—and what would you say to them now?
Personal Connection
14. What's one thing you survived that no one gives you credit for?
Personal Connection
15. Have you ever had to fight to be taken seriously in a space where people assumed you didn't belong?