The Healer's War by Elizabeth Anne Scarborough

This is an unusual war novel based loosely on the author's first hand experiences as a nurse in Vietnam during the USA vs. VietCong war. It has a very mild fantasy element in the shape of a magical healing amulet that actually has very little impact on the novel but serves as a plot device to justify some of the settings that Scarbrough wanted to explore.

I found the book to be well written and engaging. It is a fictionalised account (see magical medallion) but Scarbrough was really there and the settings and the emotional impacts on characters are based on her real life experiences. I have read a number of books about Vietnam from the point of soldiers so it is intriguing to get a complementary view from a non-combatant.