Andover – It may seem like I’ve been too focused on war, given last month’s column, but with the news of the world so grim in places, my head is sometimes full of it! It just seemed natural then to finally open up Kristin Hannah’s latest and immerse myself in the Vietnam Conflict and the aftermath in America for veterans.

“The Women” begins with Frances McGrath, a recent nursing school graduate and expected
apple of her parents’ eyes, quickly volunteering as an Army nurse after her beloved brother is
killed in Vietnam almost immediately upon arrival “in-country.” Frankie is very quickly thrust into
all the blood and guts of combat nursing, but at least she has her hooch-mates, Barb and Ethel,
to guide her, along with a very kind surgeon. Normal life becomes chopper-driven MASCAL
events, 20 hour days, relentless monsoons followed by dry season red dust, and drinking and
smoking. The good girl turns into just another one of the few combat nurses in an increasingly
bloody and complex war, who writes home with love and despair, signing her letters now just
“F”.

It’s the second half of the book that deals with the aftermath, the return home, whereupon just
as the men have been, she is spat upon and ignored, disbelieved or vilified. Even her own
father told his friends she was studying in Florence, rather than admit to the fact that Frankie
had gone into combat, to cover his shameful 4-F status during WWII. It only gets harder for
Frankie, despite the presence when needed of Barb and Ethel stateside. After she crashes and
slowly grows into her new self and finds a home and vocation, I took a deep breath and was
glad I had absorbed this particular war story-about the women who served.

You may not think the book “Rabbit Cake”– that begins with the mother’s drowning – rings with a
lighter note, but believe me: once you meet 10 year old Elvis and her older sister Lizzie and Dad
and loyal and loving canine Boomer, you’ll find yourself laughing out loud at their antic
behaviors. 

Mom was a sleepwalker who walked into the river at night, and lo and behold, Lizzie
is too. It’s a genetic thing. Lizzie has already been labeled a troublemaker at school, but her
sleepwalking takes her to new heights (note final episode!) and dangerous lows. No one in the
house is safe, not even Boomer, and most of all Lizzie.

Elvis copes by visiting her guidance counselor once a week, volunteering then working at the
local zoo, and generally being the good girl. Dad has a hard time letting go of his wife, right
down to wearing her lipstick and bathrobe (it’s so comfortable!) but only ever at home. Enter
Vanessa, Lizzie’s buddy from her psychiatric hospital stay. If I told you any more, you might not
be inclined to pick up Annie Hartnett’s “Rabbit Cake.” I mean, you don’t even know everything
there is to know about rabbit cakes…do you?