The Women: A Novel

A newspaper article reports the death of a nurse in Vietnam. Frankie’s mother tries to hide the article, but Frankie reads it. Though she did not know the nurse, she is shaken. She agrees to attend a high school friend’s party and is greeted by old friends—most of them married and some with children. When Frankie realizes the party is a wedding shower for a young woman named Dana, she grows uncomfortable. When asked about her time in Florence, she shouts about Vietnam and rushes to the beach. She feels Vietnam made her anxious.

One day, Frankie is sitting idly at work when a gunshot victim arrives. When no doctor arrives, she saves the patient herself. When the doctor and head nurse arrive, they are livid. Frankie is fired for risking a liability.

A drunk Frankie returns home to find her parents upset, having heard about the wedding shower. Her father is upset that she exposed his lie about Florence, and she tears down the photographs from his heroes’ wall. He orders her to leave, and she drives into a post. Frankie takes a bus to the nearest hospital, and the presiding doctor is confused when she tries to explain her PTSD. He insists that because she was not in combat, she will be fine. Frustrated, she leaves and calls Barb. Barb tells Frankie to go to a hotel for pick-up. When Barb arrives with Ethel, she explains they have a plan for Frankie: They will move to Ethel’s horse farm in Virginia and speak out against the war.

It is the end of 1971, and Frankie is in the process of becoming a surgical nurse specializing in trauma. Ethel attends veterinary school, while Barb protests the war and bartends. Frankie continues to have nightmares but manages them. One evening, at Barb’s bar, she asks Frankie to join her at a Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) march in Washington DC. Frankie initially resists, but Barb convinces her to join. The day arrives, and Barb and Frankie drive to DC where they camp with other veterans; they are the only women. The next day, several veterans try to stop the women from marching, insisting there were no women in Vietnam. Two days later, the women march again. This time, police in riot gear attack when several veterans throw their war medals onto the capitol steps. Frankie and Barb are separated, and Frankie walks to their meeting place, a hotel. She has a conversation with a man collecting medals from the steps, who asks to share a drink.

At the hotel bar, Frankie learns the man is a psychiatrist. He recognizes she served as a nurse and asks if she suffers nightmares. However, they are interrupted by Barb’s arrival, and Frankie doesn’t learn the man’s name.

Frankie asks Barb to attend a Navy Wives’ Luncheon with her, to honor Finley and Rye. At the lunch, a wife speaks of her husband, who is a prisoner of war in Hanoi. She explains there is misinformation about those missing in action, and encourages other women to pressure government representatives to work for American POWs’ release. Afterward, Frankie approaches the speaker, who is also from California and knows her parents. Through her, Frankie learns her mother has suffered a stroke. She boards a plane for San Diego and discovers her mother is in a hospital.

At the hospital, Frankie finds her mother on a ventilator and her father grieving. Over the next few days, she cares for her mother, and her father shares stories and apologizes for his reaction to her return from Vietnam. Eventually, her mother is taken off the ventilator and regains consciousness. Frankie moves back into her parents’ house, and one day, her father surprises her with keys to a cottage.

Frankie settles into a routine of caring for her mother and taking her to occupational therapy. In a waiting room, she comes across an article about the American League of Families, who are working on behalf of American POWs. She finds the phone number for a local chapter and, upon learning they accept donations, drives there. When Frankie arrives, she is asked if she would be willing to write letters to government officials, and she agrees. She finds herself swept up in a letter campaign, though her mother wishes she would pursue a social life.

One day, Frankie joins another volunteer in selling POW bracelets at a shopping center to raise money and awareness. She is surprised to see the DC psychiatrist, who introduces himself as Henry Acevedo, with his nephew. The nephew has just joined the Naval Academy, and Henry hopes to deter him by showing the POW cages on display. When they leave, Frankie’s co-volunteer insists Henry is interested in her. Later that month, she receives a letter from Ethel saying she and her new boyfriend Noah eloped.

It is 1972, and the war continues. Frankie continues to follow the war, writes letters, and becomes a surgical nurse. The Fourth of July arrives, and her parents plan a party to celebrate her mother’s recovery. Frankie dreads the party but feels she must attend. Her father gives a speech about the men who are serving, and once again, she feels left out. Suddenly, Henry approaches her, as he was invited by her mother as a hospital board member. They talk, but then Frankie dives to the ground when she hears firecrackers and bottle rockets.

Henry offers to walk Frankie home to escape the party, and she accepts. She invites him inside and clarifies she only wants sex, not a relationship, due to her lingering love for Rye; likewise, he is still grieving the loss of his wife to cancer. However, a month into their courtship, Henry accompanies her to a veterans’ march to meet up with Barb. The Republican National Convention is underway, and three veterans in wheelchairs interrupt President Nixon’s acceptance speech. At home, Frankie wakes from another nightmare.

The Christmas season arrives. One day, Frankie meets her mother for lunch but vomits twice before it begins. She wonders if she could be pregnant, though she has been using birth control; a visit to the doctor confirms she is. Frankie is worried and uncertain if she wants a baby, but her mother is certain that Henry will want to get married. When Frankie tells Henry the news on her birthday, he is happy and proposes. She hesitates, but knowing he is a good person, she accepts the proposal.