The Women by Kristin Hannah
Week 7: Falling Apart — PTSD and the Battle at Home
Read the chapters covering Frankie's struggles with trauma, isolation, and psychological unraveling in the years following her return.
Previewing Week 7 of The Women
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
Hannah is unflinching about what untreated trauma looks like — not as melodrama, but as the slow, grinding erosion of a person's ability to live in the world.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Frankie's symptoms — hypervigilance, nightmares, emotional numbness, difficulty with intimacy, substance use — accumulate across these chapters. How does Hannah make sure the reader understands these as wounds rather than character flaws?
2.The 1970s setting of these chapters is important: Vietnam veterans were still being told to 'move on,' and PTSD was not yet a recognized diagnosis. How does the cultural and medical context of the era shape the specific forms Frankie's suffering takes?
3.Frankie's relationships — with her family, with potential partners, with herself — are all strained or broken in different ways during this period. Which relationship feels most damaged to you, and why does Hannah choose to foreground it?