Excerpt from The Women by Kristin Hannah, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

She heard laughter behind her, the sound of running feet. A young blond woman took off her shoes at the water's edge and splashed into the surf. Rye followed her, laughing, not even bothering to take off his shoes. Someone sang "Walk Like a Man" off-key.

Finley plopped down beside Frankie, fell drunkenly into her. "Where have you been all night, doll? I missed you."

"Hey, Fin," she said quietly. Leaning into him, she remembered their lives on this beach; as children, they'd built elaborate sandcastles and bought Creamsicles from the jangling ice-cream truck that drove up and down Ocean Boulevard in the summer. They'd spent long hours on their surfboards, feet dangling over the sides, talking beneath the hot sun as they waited for the right wave, sharing their deepest secrets.

Together, always. Best friends.

She knew what he needed from her now; she should tell Fin she was proud of him and send him off with a smile, but she couldn't do it. They'd never lied to each other. It didn't seem like the time to start. "Fin, are you sure you should go to Vietnam?"

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Frankie sighed. She and Finley had idolized President Kennedy. His words meant something to them, so how could she argue? "I know, but—"

"It isn't dangerous, Frankie. Trust me. I'm a Naval Academy graduate, an officer with a cushy assignment on a ship. I'll be back in no time. You'll hardly have time to miss me."

Everyone said the same thing: Communism was an evil that had to be stopped; these were the Cold War years. Dangerous times. If a great man like President Kennedy could be shot in broad daylight by a Red in Dallas, how could any American feel safe? Everyone agreed that communism couldn't be allowed to flourish in Asia, and Vietnam was the place to stop it.

The nightly news showed smiling soldiers marching in packs through the Vietnamese jungle and giving newsmen the thumbs-up. No bloodshed.

Finley put an arm around her.

"I'll miss you, Peanut," he said. She heard the catch in his voice and knew he was scared to go.

Had he been hiding it from her all along, or hiding it from himself?

And there it was, the fear and worry she'd been trying to suppress all night, to ignore. Suddenly it was too big to bear. No looking away now.

Her brother was going to war.

Excerpted from The Women by Kristin Hannah. Copyright © 2024 by Kristin Hannah. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.