“An all-out women-driven, queer, transgender, multiracial takeover of the Old West . . . and that’s exactly what Melissa Lenhardt delivers in her unapologetically badass western, Heresy.” – New York Times “Lenhardt has created a bold new story where women have taken their rightful place in the narrative of the Outlaw Western genre; where wit, wisdom and wiles could mean the difference between … wiles could mean the difference between life and death, and where the fellowship of women bested every challenge.” — Kathleen Kent
Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour never intended to turn outlaw.
After being run off their ranch by a greedy cattleman, their family is left destitute. As women alone they have few choices: marriage, lying on their backs for money, or holding a gun. For Margaret and Hattie the choice is simple. With their small makeshift family, the gang pulls off a series of heists across the West.
Though the newspapers refuse to give the female gang credit, their exploits don’t go unnoticed. Pinkertons are on their trail, a rival male gang is determined to destroy them, and secrets among the group threaten to tear them apart. Now, Margaret and Hattie must find a way to protect their family, finish one last job, and avoid the hangman’s noose.
“Readers who relish an unusual narrative structure will enjoy this unique take on the traditional western.” — Booklist
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When you can’t wait for reading time at night to dive back in to the story that has you thinking about it all day.
Like that.
Heresy is the story of a group of abused, misfit, survivor women in the Wild West who find each other and through Robin Hood type outlawing, fund their sanctuary and keep a hideout town afloat. The relationships between the women is tastefully done, tragically told and are heartbreakingly beautiful, each woman at the Heresy Ranch for their own reasons.
I devoured this book, relished the story, feasted on the characters and rooted for their survival. Lenhardt writes the main characters in their unique voices, telling the tale of the Parker gang with interviews, field notes, diaries, telegraphs and newspaper articles which cleverly gave us many view points of the same event and allowed us to see the repression of women in a man’s world back then.
Don’t read this if you are looking for a quick, easy read that won’t leave you thinking long after the last page is read. Do read this if you love women’s fiction and are progressive enough to understand that love is love is love and we all are led to it differently.
Well done, Melissa Lenhardt!
my husband and i do not read similar books, like at all. even what we would consider our favorites in classic literature varies greatly. and we’re both former english majors with degrees in publishing. reading heresy, i thought this is one book he would really like. and lest you think that because he would like it i would not, i’m here to tell you that isn’t true.
i don’t know if the political climate that is so toxic to women made this read feel so empowering, but it certainly helped. this book is part western adventure and part friendship drama and in all its parts it’s so good. i loved garet parker and hattie lacoeur, i loved joan and stella, i loved claire, even dorcas, as much as she is an antagonist, she’s worthy of admiration and is another example of indomitable woman. these women are complicated, good and bad, kind and petty, but that’s what makes them so fascinating.
one of my favorite things about the narrative is that it’s not straightforward. like the historian who provides the framing of the novel, we are piecing together the story of the parker gang from interview transcripts, private journals and correspondence, and newspaper clips. i find this kind of storytelling very appealing. and it’s a reminder that all history is part story, depending on who is doing the telling, the narrative isn’t always reliable.
i’ve read all of melissa lenhardt’s books, in part because she’s an author at the agency where i work, but also because i really enjoy and appreciate her writing, her ability to craft a good story. i know that heresy was challenging for her to complete, but in the end, i think it’s probably her best work yet.
**heresy will publish on october 2, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of melissa lenhardt.