INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICKA BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK“A masterpiece.” – R.O. KwonThe Crucible meets True Grit in this riveting adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West.In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw. The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves … the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.
The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.
She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she’s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.
Featuring an irresistibly no-nonsense, courageous, and determined heroine, Outlawed dusts off the myth of the old West and reignites the glimmering promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear.
more
I loved everything about this book. Well written. Strong female characters!
I borrowed this book from my mom after she finished reading it. It was Reese Witherspoon’s January 2021 pick for her book club, and was very unique–one I will definitely not forget. The author put a feminine twist on the real-life Hole-in-the-Wall gang of the Wild West, which took its name from the Hole-in-the-Wall pass in Johnson County, Wyoming. Though I was confused a few times on where to draw the line between history and fiction—the author had a character named “Kid” and I wasn’t sure how closely drawn it was to the real Hole-in-the-Wall gang member, The Sundance Kid, until later—it gave me a taste of what life might have been like back then for a few lost women who felt they had to turn to a life of crime.
Usually I finish books but about 2/3 of the way through I just lost total interest.
I stayed up late to finish this big-hearted, feminist Western set in place and time where barren women are cast out like trash. Highly recommended.
I didn’t care for it. The concept was good, but not the execution.
Thought provoking, not always in a good way. Somewhat similar to the Handmaid’s Tale in that way. Truly frightful story of women, again reduced to their biology.
I’d give this book six stars if I could. It’s been a while since I finished a story with tears in my eyes. Outlawed by Anna North is one of my new favorites- part Western, part dystopia, part adventure tale, and part finding oneself, this book was a fierce blend of my favorite literary tropes. Ada may be searching for who she is, but she is strong, and she cares, and she’s smart. The supporting characters are larger than life and I loved the cross-dressing, gender-bending shenanigans missions they got embroiled in. At the end, I was hungry for more of Ada’s story but satisfied with the life she chose for herself at that point. I can’t say much more without major spoilers, but Outlawed had definitely earned its spot on my shelf.
I could not get into this book. It read like a teenagers book but the stories were graphic.
Not sure I liked it. A lot of none information.
A dystopian western that has many familiar elements but i also original and surprising –what if the Hole in the Wall gang was a group of outcast women? Feminist, yes, but also a book about women as PEOPLE, and a story I very much enjoyed and that had me thinking for days after I finished it.
A unique, alt history, feminist tale.
Unique, tender, and thrilling!
Outlawed is a compelling, adventurous tale featuring Ada, the young daughter of a midwife whom after being unable to bear her husband a child flees her hometown, to rumblings of witchcraft, to a convent run by nuns before finally settling and finding a home as the doctor for the notorious outlaws, non-binary, Hole in the Wall Gang.
The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are strong, determined, passionate, and loyal. And the plot set in the wild west during the mid-1890s is an intense, fast-paced tale of love, life, loss, bravery, strength, loyalty, danger, gender neutrality, nonconformity, gunslinging, violence, and survival.
I have to admit that I didn’t know what to expect when I started Outlawed, but North did such a wonderful job of blending a classic western story with such an original, alluring, feministic spin that I was not only left highly entertained but incredibly impressed.
terrible author
This is a fantastic story about the Hole in the Wall Gang. It made me a total believer that the entire gang was made up of females. I was drawn to the story from the beginning plus there was a happily (maybe) ever after. If you don’t like reading about same-sex romance, then this is not for you. If you love a story with a lot of action, then you should love this. Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was an interesting book for its time period. Hard to believe some of the beliefs back in those days. The characters were different. The story was interesting enough to make me want to know what happened.
It’s not my usual type of book but I still enjoyed it
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy
Ada lives with her new husband in her hometown and works as an apprentice to her herbalist mother and midwife. When, after a year of marriage, she hasn’t conceived she faces being hanged as a witch until her mother tells her to leave. She does just that by joining a convent where other barren women have found a safe haven. But Ada wants to know more about what makes women barren and she’s willing to leave the safety of the convent to do that. She joins a travelling bookseller who drops her off in the vicinity of the Hole in the Wall gang and like the others in the gang she becomes an outlaw.
North creates an 1894 dystopian world that has lost a goodly portion of its population to a pandemic flu outbreak and those who survive know they must repopulate the world in order to survive in it. With a unique setting, North populates it with both good-hearted people and nefarious ones both of whom believe they have the answers for what has become of their world after the pandemic has ended. This is a well-told tale that will have most readers staying up well past their bedtimes in order to read one more chapter in this Old West story. While this book was, undoubtedly, written well before the Covid pandemic, it is scary how close to our own circumstances North was able to foresee.
If you love reading stories about dystopian societies, cowboys, and strong, intelligent women, this book should be at the top of your to-be-read list.
My thanks to Bloomsbury and Edelweiss for an eARC.