Well that was a lovely surprise! I hadn’t planned on reading this one until a friend mentioned it. A queer western with a woman to root for? Count me in, and keep me outlawed. Wonderful, can’t praise it enough unless I tell you the truth, I never read westerns.

I forgot how much I love westerns, especially queer and female led westerns!

I did like Outlawed! It was a pretty fast paced, easy read, even if it was a bit frustrating for the subject matter. I thought the extremeness of some of the attitudes towards the nuns and towards women in general was a bit much, and other things; like a lot of the characters, a bit passive and underwhelming.

I wish the Hole in the Wall gang would have been a bit easier to remember who was who from one another, or just described a bit more, but I enjoyed the dynamic between them and the found family aspect. The Kid was an interesting character that I did enjoy but that I wanted more from, especially a more major explanation or statement about their gender expression. Not that it wasn’t already assumed for me that they were queer/GNC, but I wish it had been more clear about it.

The ending left me wanting more, honestly. It’s not what I was expecting, but it made sense story wise! I just wish I had gotten more of a closed ending rather than so much left open/unexplained.

I did enjoy it and I’d probably read it again just for the Hole in the Wall gang!

I have mixed feelings about this one. I went in really hyped up for it but was kind of disappointed by it in the end. I feel like aspects were hyped that didn't actually pan out.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I ended up. I think unfortunately for me the western theme was just not my cup of tea.

I found this a rather strange book and not sure, even after reading it, i enjoyed it or not. There could have been more in depth characters building and less about the places mentioned. The cowboys were very far-fetched and not very interesting. It was just too weird.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author Anna North, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review of this book.

I was confused a lot of the time with this book. At first I thought that it was a historic fictional novel, but then realized that it is a post dystopian book that then provides an alternate history. It takes place in the 1800's after "the Great Flu" which killed much of the country. Women are useful only if they can bear children----making women who cannot conceive "witches" and/or outcasts. The heroine of the book then goes to live with the "Hole in the Wall Gang".

It is a strange book which did not work on many levels for me. I think it began with the confusing genre and then proceeded to the improbable rewriting of history.

Pleased to include this novel in a round-up for Zed, the books section at Zoomer magazine.
Full review feature at link.

Unfortunately, I received this book, and it was archived the following day. I have heard it is very good.

I am embarrassed that I didn't read this compelling novel sooner when it was a Reese's Book Club Pick. Thanks to a buddy ready recently, the pages flew by and I am thrilled that I got the opportunity to read and review this engaging story. Although I was never a fan of Westerns of the Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour ilk, I became a huge fan of Larry McMurtry's historical and contemporary Westerns. He did not glamorize the Wild West and neither does author Anna North.
Our heroine and narrator, Ada, has survived a Flu epidemic that has killed off a large part of the country. In these continuing days of the Covid-19 pandemic, it's easy to see how such a thing would have such a huge impact. Ada has trained in healing and midwifery with her mother. She is married at seventeen to a young man she has know all her life. In her community the women are expected to bear children very quickly. When a year passes and there is no baby, she is considered barren. Superstition brands her a witch, especially after unfortunate events happen with her neighbors. The book takes place in the later 1800's where medical knowledge wasn't immense, but it still seems that the society has reverted back to the days of the Salem Witch trials. If a woman is deemed a witch she can be hanged.
Ada is able to run away to a convent where many other barren women have sought sanctuary. Convent life is not a good fit for her. When she finds out there is a gang of women called the Hole In The Wall gang, Ada leaves to try to join them.
I liked how the women were a little leery of Ada. You could understand this since they were hiding out from their pasts and probable doom. Ada does get them to come around some due to her medical skills. The author explores the back stories the other women have to deal with. There is no judgment, just acceptance, unless you cause harm to the group. Lark's story especially brought tears to my eyes.
Things have gotten better for women in recent years, but there is still not the equality that should be a given. It's encouraging that the United States finally has a female VP.
As a big fan of historical fiction as well as alternative historical OUTLAWED was a huge hit for me. I have not read any other works by Anna North, but will have to look into her back list in the near future.
A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this novel.

i spent pretty much the entire book waiting for the deeper, more complex examination of gender that never came. i was hoping for more of a challenge of societal roles, a deeper acceptance of non-conformity, but even when presented in the form of the kid, it felt more like flavor text than anything of genuine substance. the fact that we never really get the kid talking about the kid's relationship to gender is more than a little frustrating, as is the entire approach to 'barrenness' and motherhood and how the story never seems to confront the very real, very damage ideology of biological/gender essentialism. gender and sexuality and identity are core facets of the story but still feel as if they're danced around or avoided rather than confronted head-on in a manner that would've been infinitely more interesting to read - because what is offered instead is just a little too boring. the day-to-day of the hole in the wall gang and the robbery the story culminates to comes and goes quickly and unimpressively; the ending is just too dry. part of the issue for me is that ada is just boring as a narrator - if the kid or lark or really anyone else had been the narrator, or if the book had more than one point of view, the plot would've left a more lasting impression.

there's also a really uncomfortable moment where two of the other outlaws try to explain to ada how to 'trick' a man into being with her while she's dressed as a man and in general it just makes me Incredibly Uncomfortable and i think the better way to handle it would've been to have them tell ada to just... not try to coerce anyone because?? don't do that!

there was a lot of potential and honestly it WAS well-written, i just... wanted a lot more. a companion novel focusing on side characters or a follow-up about the aftermath for the gang would be very welcome.

Looking for adventure and adventurers? This is for you. Suspend what you know, this has twists!

In 1894,17 year-old Ada marries the love of her life and is apprenticed to her midwife mother.

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.

I am not sure I have ever read a "western" and this might be another reason I don't. I was confused by this novel and it was tough for me to get through. Took a really long time to read and I almost gave up several times. Ada is just not captivating and did nothing to keep me engaged.

I struggled with the unlikelihood of coincidences in this book. I know the author was set out to make this a gender awareness story, but the storylines were pretty far-fetched and predictable. Her writing was good. I enjoyed the cowboy plots, but I couldn’t love the storylines and characters.

All right, I'm highly susceptible to this book as a midwife myself - but this is a great read. It's a thoughtful examination of a post-pandemic (not *our* pandemic, though) society, what low birth rates might mean to our society, what the loss of medical and scientific knowledge in a post-collapse scenario combined with women's bodies becoming a resource looks like - all set in a Wild West background. I read this as I visited Reno and went to the desert so it was perfect timing. Well written, great characters, and a thoughtful and nuanced take on everything from religion to race, I 100% recommend this book.

In a town that burns barren women as witches, Ada might be next. She had a bright future. She was pretty, had a husband and a trade, but after a year of marriage, no baby. She’ll have to flee the only life she’s ever known if she wants to stay alive. She joins up with Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid and finds her place among this rag tag bunch of ladies. When the Kid hatches a plan that might get them all killed, Ada has to decide if that possibility is worth a new kind of future, a better future for women like her.

I enjoyed this one. It hasn’t been my favorite read of the year, and it kept getting pushed back on my TBR, but I am glad that I finally got to it. The book’s strength is in its characters, for sure. Rich, complex women who want better for their kind. Women who are willing to be outlaws and vilified for the possibility of a better future for women everywhere. I loved a Wild West story centered around female characters, for sure. The primary reason I’m never really into westerns is that women are typically only used as love interests for the cowboys, damsels in distress, or whores in saloons to serve men. This book was very different and I enjoyed their stories.

This was a Reese book club pick I do believe, and I can see why. It’s worth a read if you’re ready for a twist on an old, male-centered genre.

This book feels original and very special. I'm glad it has the mainstream "Reese Witherspoon" stamp of approval, because normally this is just the kind of book I recommend to mixed results. I enjoyed the world building, characterization, and easily fell into the story.

I was so excited to read this book that so many bookstagrammers have already reviewed! Although I enjoyed the feminist reimagining and the gender flip on Billy the Kid and the Hole in the Wall gang, the story was a bit problematic for me. I loved the beginning & the ending, but the middle was a bit messy in my opinion! It took me weeks to finish and I considered shelving it as a DNF but I pushed on through. I did like the ending but for me, I’m giving it ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️!

I'm proud of myself for stretching my reading--I've never read a Western, let alone a speculative one. I think, for me, it was edited oddly, parts felt like they went on for too long or were superfluous, while other parts seemed to just be glossed over. Still, if I'm going to read a Western, it's going to be a queer one.

A queer, femme, alternate Western set in the late 1800's where survivors of the flu are focused on procreation, where girls are raised to marry young and have babies or run the risk of being banished or worse, hanged for witchcraft.

Ada, a midwife in training, finds herself unable to get pregnant and is secretly shipped off to a convent to avoid the accusations being launched her way. Her desire to understand what is causing infertility in women causes her time with the nuns to be short - the Mother takes a shine to her interests and helps her find her way to the Hole in the Wall gang, a wonderous group of outlaws who parade around as men and consist of horse thieves, sharpshooters, and the notorious Kid.

While comparisons with The Handmaid's tale are inevitable, I feel it is so much more like Sarah Gailey's writing... exquisitely subversive, deliciously gender-bending, and fanstastically historically twisted!

It’s 1894, and after a year of marriage, Ada is still unable to get pregnant. Under suspicion of being a witch, she is forced to leave her home. She spends a little time in a convent but that moves to join the Hole In A Wall Gang, a group of outcast women, displaced from their own homes due to the fear and persecution of possible “witches.”

The gang gets by through robberies and other “job,” all under the leadership of The Kid. They eventually devise a big plan to change their way of life and Ada is faced with the decision of whether the risks are worth it to stay with her new found family.

I appreciated the fresh taken on the Western tradition that Outlaw provided but what initially drew me to the book was the praise pf queer inclusion I had heard of. I found throughout my read that queerness to a back seat to the plot, which is completely fine except for the fact that queerness had been used as one of the books biggest selling points. I thought the book had incredible representation of resourceful and resilient women, and the story of community was strong and endearing. Overall, I would give this book a 3.5.