I received a free ebook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I started this story on a whim and then couldn't put it down. I really love the cover and what it means in the book. I love what this book wanted to be. In the beginning, the witchy elements and barren women being banned drew me in. The young wife telling of her struggles and what she was forced to do, drew me in. I was still in deep when we got to the first leg of Ada's journey. I continued to be interested in her journey into the unknown. I loved this particular gang of outlaws. The rules they had for survival were interesting. Then it started to dull out for me. I feel like I wanted more. That there was potential for more. Idk what that could be, it's just sometimes I felt as if I were reading two different stories. I also was proud of the mental health aspect, but still I needed more. Once we started planning for the future, I feel like the characters, that it tried to do too much. It was a witch era women's story. It was an adventure story. It was a slice of outlaw life story. It was a story of acceptance and friendship. We had a very diverse cast of characters where nothing had to be explained and I enjoyed that. We had a heist story. Idk, I just think it would be better if focused on less things and fully fluffed those ideas out. I enjoyed it and what it represented.

Unique story told in a unique voice! Loved this book.. It certainly stands out from any other book I've read this year, and would be appealing to book clubs and history buffs. While the history is certainly fanciful, it's an alternate way of looking at the past that starts with "what if" and will resonate with many readers. The book begins and ends with the story of Ada, a teen-aged bride who yearns to have a child.. Early on, we are introduced to the misogyny and magical thinking that is pervasive in her town . Ada has medicinal knowledge that stems from her apprenticeship to her mother, the town's midwife. Factual knowledge, however, is no match for the folklore and mysticism that the townsfolk believe in, and she is ultimately destined to leave her home and family because of it. After that, it's a rollicking ride of a story. "Outlawed" contains shades of "The Handmaid's Tale" set in the history of America's wild west. Great book.

A feminist Western story? YES PLEASE! Anna North's Outlawed is gutsy, original, and I loved every heart-pounding page. It's "the year of our Lord 1894" and 17 year old Ada is doing just fine. She's newly (and happily) married and is following in her mother's footsteps as a midwife apprentice. However, when months go by without conceiving a child, Ada is deemed barren and considered an outlaw, a pariah and someone to be feared. Where once she was trusted for her natural gift of midwifery, now she is blamed for local ailments, misfortunes, and miscarriages. In a town where barren women are considered witches to be hanged, Ada's mother sends her to a convent, their only option for Ada's survival.

Ada meets up with the infamous Hole In The Wall Gang, a rag tag group of social outcasts, who are hell bent on creating a place for themselves and others who don't fit the narrow minded ways of those around them. This fast paced, gritty narrative will have readers hooked from beginning to end!

Thanks to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for my ARC of this book! This novel really surpassed my expectations! I was expecting a relatively simple cowboy story but what I read was a fascinating exploration of female worth and the power of community. We have an outlaw/cowboy story that doesn’t allow the represented world to go unchallenged. The racism, sexism and homophobia of the society depicted are not just acknowledged but actively explored to make nuanced and interesting points- although one or two needed a little further reworking I thought. The narrative follows Ada, the daughter of a midwife. She assumes her marriage is the beginning of her life but as the months drag by and she struggles to get pregnant, her plans and security come tumbling down around her. Barren women are feared of being witches, spreading their barrenness to other wives in the area, so soon Ada must flee her town. She sees how barrenness can destroy women’s lives and dedicates herself to trying to find out why it happens. Her journey takes her to the Hole in the Wall gang, made up of other outcasts; barren wives, lesbians and others that do not fit in societies’ mould. In this gang she finds a community that gives her hope for the future, but how sustainable is this gang of outlaws? I found the story very compelling and I was enchanted by the side characters in particular. Slowly finding out how each member came to be in the gang was so engaging, I almost wish there was more focus on characters other than Ada- especially News and Elzy. The novel is fast-paced, exciting and measured in its approach. I really enjoyed it and I think anyone seeking a female-centric outlaw story would too.

This book had me at female outlaws. And if I didn’t read the plot summary, it would have had me at the cover. Great cover. Once you get past the inevitable comparisons to two other well known works and actually read the book, you’ll find out its very much its own thing and an excellent thing indeed. Set in a somewhat alternate reality of the Wild Wild West of the 1894 and 1895, the book follows Ada, a young midwife in training, a young wife, who finds herself unable to get pregnant. In the world she inhabits there’s no greater crime for a woman for it is a world obsessed with reproduction. Women get married young and ought to have as many babies as possible, failure to do so results in marriage annulments, banishments, prosecutions as witches, etc. A woman barren is as good as dead, unless she finds another way of life. And Ada does, first at a nunnery and soon after with a gang of outlaws, a much nicer fit for her.
It is there she meets all the fascinating variegated characters that populate this tale led by the enigmatic charismatic Kid, an aspiring preacher turned insomniac outlaw. Kid has a plan, a plan that can make their way of life into something more permanent, something that can help more people, but implementing this plan proves to be complicated, deadly even. Is there a greater way to (pun intended) dust up an old and staid Western genre than to infuse it with a bunch of gender bending bandits? I mean, seriously, how awesome is that. To take a group of barren women that refuses to be defined by societal expectations and turn them into gun wielding legends. F yeah. That’s women’s liberation way before there was such a thing in this country, a feminist take on the classic scenario. Excellent, excellent. Plus all the other makings of a great read, good writing, terrific characters, some romance even (actually considering the plot, the entire thing is surprisingly light on sapphistry), but yeah, there’s an entire gamut of emotions and themes here, though in the end it is a book about finding oneself, finding one’s purpose and place in the world. It’s just that Ada’s journey managed to involve some crazy twists and turns. This was my first experience reading the author and what an auspicious introduction it turned out to be. I really enjoyed this book from cover to finish. Even the page count worked well, nice to have a great story told in under 300 pages. What restraint. One I should really learn from. So let’s end this on a round of applause. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.