The Women by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's) is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

In No. 1 New York Times best-selling Hannah’s The Women, good-girl nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows her brother to Vietnam but finds herself unprepared for the brutality of war and the tumult of a divided United States when she returns home.—Barbara Hoffert

Absolution by Alice McDermott (Farrar)

Returning to fiction after What About the Baby?, McDermott focuses on characterization. Young newlywed Patricia and little Rainey meet in Saigon in 1963 at a garden party hosted by Rainey’s mother, Charlene. It is Patricia’s introduction to the world of American high-society wives. With the assistance of some U.S. military personnel, Charlene draws Patricia into her black-market activities involving a Vietnamese children’s hospital and a leprosarium. Charlene’s imperious treatment of the Vietnamese women in her employ further strains the women’s relationship. Sixty years later, Rainey tracks down Patricia to ask her for the full story of Charlene’s secretive influence over whomever she met. Charlene was the catalyst both for Patricia’s metamorphosis from a naive dewy-eyed “helpmeet” to tougher pragmatic independent woman and for Rainey’s transition from a troubled adolescent to a happily married wife and mother. VERDICT National Book Award winner McDermott frames this exquisite novel (a recent Barnes & Noble book club pick) against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Social class, awakening feminist consciousness, the bladed side of “good works,” and the power of one seemingly small event that changes lives forever are perfectly revealed in this correspondence between two women, connected over six decades by their shared experience.—Beth E. Andersen

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris (Sourcebooks Landmark)

Appeared on the September 2022 LibraryReads list

“When World War II starts, Fenna Vos is recruited by MI9 to use her skills to make escape aids. Based on true events about one woman’s journey, this is a thrilling look at a little known part of the war effort, with well developed characters and terrifying adventures.”—Melanie Liechty, Morgan Library, Morgan, UT

The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim (Houghton Harcourt)

Appeared on the November 2018 LibraryReads list

 “A sweeping, historical family saga in which two sisters are separated during the Korean War. One is raised in the United States and the other in South Korea. For fans of Pachinko.”—Cat Ng, Palm Beach County Library System, Wellington, FL