First published 2024
Twenty-year-old Frances "Frankie" McGrath lives a sheltered life in Southern California until 1965 changes everything. When her brother ships out to Vietnam, she makes a bold decision that shocks her conservative parents. She joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows him to war. Vietnam overwhelms the inexperienced young nurse with chaos and destruction. Each day brings life and death decisions, hope mixed with betrayal, and friendships that form quickly but can shatter in an instant. Frankie meets other women who become the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost. But surviving the war proves easier than what comes next. Returning to America means facing angry protesters and a country that wants to forget Vietnam ever happened. Frankie and her fellow veterans must navigate a divided nation that fails to recognize their sacrifice and service.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Southern California, Vietnam
Period: 1965
471 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press
Content warnings: violence, war