GIDDYUP PARTNER this book has me swooning! North has created a world so engrossing I found myself singing Cowgirls Don’t Cry and wishing I was riding a wild horse through the desert. It’s the story of Ada, a young midwife and newlywed who has been trying (and failing) to get pregnant. In this reimagined Wild West of the 1880s, barrenness is a sign of witchcraft and the worst fate to befall a woman. So, rather than be jailed (or worse, hanged) for her inability to have children, Ada flees town and becomes an outlaw. She joins up with the infamous Hole-in-the-Wall Gang led by the Kid and full of outlaws like herself. They thieve and hustle and live off the land and, by the time Ada joins them, they’re developing their biggest heist yet. The story is fast-paced and thrilling, the characters are endearing and gritty, the writing is smart and direct. It’s a commentary on the importance society places on women being mothers and how ridiculous it is to think that a woman’s worth lies in her ability (or desire/choice) to have children. But in a rowdy, shoot-‘em-up, yeehaw, girl power sort of way. Suffice it to say that I never wanted this book to end and I’d gladly join this group of gun-slinging badass women in a heartbeat. Run, don’t walk, to get your copy!!

This is an original book. The cover drew me in first- I just love it. It is so striking. Then there is the premise of the story- this is a slightly altered late 1800's western about a band of cast out women who were barren, gay, or anything else deemed by their society as "suspicious". This outlaw gang bands together and tries to form a new family and way of life. It is an interesting take on a feminist western.

I think those who like Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here or Megan Angelo's Followers will like this book. It is not perfect and maybe not completely to my taste, but the originality of it kept me engaged and I enjoyed hanging on for the ride with the outlaws. It is not like anything else I've read lately.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy. I'm also glad it's a Reese Witherspoon book club choice that will shine some light on this novel.

A western unlike any other, Outlawed features queer cowgirls, gender nonconforming robbers and a band of feminists that fight against the grain for autonomy, agency and the power to define their own worth.

A unique and interesting take on the wild west, featuring a group of barren women who become outlaws as they try to build a place where they are safe and accepted. The book explores themes of fertility, race, family, friendship, relationships, LGBTQIA, and crime. I feel the majority of the men in the book are portrayed negatively (i.e. sheriffs trying to hunt and hang the "witches," mean or cruel husbands).
The story is told from Ada's perspective, and she had been training with her mother to be a midwife before she was forced to leave town after failing to conceive. She spends the book almost obsessed with learning why women are infertile, and she struggles to fit in with the outlaws, even after she becomes their resident doctor. Part of the struggle is that Ada repeatedly makes bad or rash decisions during the group's crime sprees, and I hated that she didn't seem to grow at all with her decision making under pressure.

OMG! In the late 1800s, supposedly barren women were tossed out by their husbands. Harsh, right?
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 Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Wow! I don’t think I knew where to start with this book. It is set in an alternate history 1894, and it’s a bit Handmaid’s Taleesq in that barrenness is an issue and the country is not USA anymore but different territories? But barren women are often hung as a witches because you know they have 1894 medical knowledge of the reproductive system. The main character is barren and become an outlaw. I literally read this in one night, I could not put it down!!! So good.

3.5 stars Outlawed is an alternate history story, centering on how “barren” women were treated in a post-deadly-flu-pandemic Wild West. In this world, if a woman can’t conceive, she is generally tossed out by her husband and/or his family, with no consequences to them. She often is accused of witchcraft, blamed for anything bad that happened in town or to other women. And this is what happened to our our main character, Ada, who winds up first in a convent and then as an outlaw. Her mother was a midwife and taught her all kinds of useful knowledge but no one knew why some women couldn’t have children. Ada desperately wanted to learn this and sought out any source of scientific (or not so scientific!) knowledge. She eventually winds up as a member of the Hole In The Wall Gang under the leadership of The Kid, but this gang is nothing like what you think. As I said, this is alternate history. I enjoyed the story but it didn’t grab me as much as I hoped it would. Perhaps it was all the heavy-handed twisted Christian commentary and beliefs; perhaps it was just the story, which got bogged down in the middle. The Hole In The Wall Gang seemed at first to be a non-binary paradise but that’s not really what it was. Color me a little disappointed. For an alternate history I really liked, check out the Gunnie Rose series by Charlaine Harris.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for a chance to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Ada works as an apprentice midwife, but her knowledge doesn't help her get pregnant. When she is declared barren and exiled from her town, she leaves everything she knew behind to join the Hole in the Wall gang, a gang of female outlaws. Led by the mysterious Kid, the Gang seeks to build a new community for outcast women like themselves - but at what cost?

This book was not quite was expected - I thought it would be an action-packed Western. Instead, it's much more philosophical, ruminating over the roles of women in society. A lot of attention is paid to Ada's midwifery and general medical knowledge, and this theme was a highlight of the story to me. I also liked the Kid as a mentor figure for Ada.

I wish there had been more characterization of the other members of the Hole in the Wall gang - they all kind of blended together, and I had trouble telling them apart. I think the book would have benefited from exploring these other stories and showcasing the variety of female characters. Plot-wise, the book was a little slow, but I did enjoy the big plan at the end of the novel. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Bloomsbury USA for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What an incredible book!
I feel like I fell into the Wild Wild West and was horseback riding with the Outlaws.
There were moments which made me remember when I first read The Handmaid's Tale and I had the same chill up my spine.
I look forward to watching this on the big screen.
Lisa

Ada's journey from young wife, to nun in training, to outlaw, doctor, thief, and teacher was nothing short of inspiring.

Set in an imagined, post-flu pandemic late 1800's, Outlawed takes the "wild, wild West" to a whole different level. Good Christians are very devout in their devotion to Baby Jesus and babies are considered the highest blessings from Him. A woman who cannot conceive has no place in their community---they are sentenced as witches and either put in jail or hung, depending on the severity of their "crimes."

Our main character, Ada, is a barren young woman who decides jail is not the path for her. After escaping to a convent and finding that her true passion lies with finding out the science behind why some women cannot conceive, she turns to her final resort: becoming an "outlaw." She joins the Hole in the Wall Gang, a group of childless women who steal for a living and support each other in the hopes that females like them will be accepted in society one day. The women in the gang are all quirky, lovable, and independent, but I felt more effort could have been put into their character development. Ada (Doc, as she comes to be known by the gang's charismatic leader, The Kid), on the other hand, is very complex & dynamic. She sometimes reminisces on her old life; assisting her mother in her midwife duties, being married to a boy she grew up with, and caring for her sisters, but she realizes that she cannot ever return to that reality after being outcasted. She picks up very quickly on pertinent survival skills, thrives in her new role of gang doctor, and has a never-give-up spirit that inspires her comrades, as well as readers.

Life was anything but simple for Ada and her fellow outlaws, but they made the best of it! Anna North did an incredible job of transporting her readers to the Old West and making them feel like they were fighting for survival along with the Hole in the Wall Gang. I loved how we journeyed along with the characters as they transcended gender stereotypes, learned to trust one another, and used their combined strengths & knowledge to strive toward a better future for all. Outlawed is a fantastic tale that I will revisit in years to come!

This book is a strange amalgamation of a historical Western and a post-apocalyptic story, at least in my mind. And as unconventional as that sounds, it plays out beautifully.
Ada's story is entrancingly told by North, both in language and in development. Words flow across the page and pull you into a world that seems familiar enough to be unnerving. It's a story about being female in a world that isn't kind to females, about taking charge of your life, and about the bonds that can form when people face hardship together.
Not exactly the Western gang of outlaws adventure I was expecting, but it's so well done that I can't even be mad.

The writing is clear and easy to read. The women are strong and brave. They fight for a future that they decide. To hell with the patriarchy! The beginning of the novel is interesting and describes the bleak outlook for barren women. However, the progression of the story slows and becomes repetitive. The book’s troupes are ones that have been used countless times. There are numerous stories that examine how unkind past societies were to women. Superstitions. Unfounded accusations. Witch hunts. Blame and hate for the “inferior” sex. This book does not offer anything new, but it is an okay read for those interested in a serious western with gun toting women.

This was an excellent book... full of adventure, I’ve honestly never read anything like this before. It’s totally out of my normal reads and I’m so glad I read it. I definitely think people are going to love it, I know I did! Thank you for letting me read this wonderful book!

4.5 Stars

At the age of seventeen, Ada has learned the art of midwifery from her mother, the midwife in the Town of Fairchild, and has been taught the female rules of ’lying with our husbands, how we should wash beforehand, and put perfume behind our ears, how we should breathe slowly to relax our muscles, and try to look our husbands in the eyes.’ Soon after her school days are over, she is married to a young man and the waiting begins, as everyone expects her to soon be bearing their first child. When half a year has passed, Ada’s mother-in-law begins offering her advice on what she should do, and not do, in order to provide them with a grandchild, but she continues to fail to conceive. Barren women were subject to the same fate as witches, hanging, and Ada is faced with a choice between hanging and joining a convent.

’I began my criminal career there in the house of God, with a leaky pen instead of a pistol and books instead of silver for my reward.’

At the convent Ada learns of the Hole in the Wall Gang from the Mother Superior, deeming Ada as not fitting in among the nuns, and with some help finds her way to their holdout in the mysterious “territories.” Although she is not overly welcomed at the start, her background in medicine proves to be her ticket to being slowly accepted by Kid, the leader, and the rest of the gang. A genre-bending mix of dystopian and western, LGBTQ+, women’s rights and set in the days when “men were men, and women were women” all the while men beating their chests to declare their superiority, this gang managed to slowly pull me in and pull the wool over a few eyes, at the same time.

The author brings this harsh and exacting landscape to life vividly, the ’small rise overlooking a wide salt flat where we sometimes spotted a badger or coyote, and once, a family of grouse, moving fussily with their heads held high like fancy, overdressed ladies’ and the wall, that will come to haunt her dreams, " of bright red rock many stories high, stretching from one edge of the valley to the other.’The wall that kept its own time, its own matins, lauds and vespers...with each quarter hour a new section of rock blazed flame red, and another plunged into ochre darkness. In the evening, the setting sun made the stone glow a living pink as through blood coursed through it, even as the warmth and light drained away from the valley floor.’

I rooted for Ada, a young woman with grit and determination that was reminiscent, for me, of True Grit’s young Mattie, and for the rest of their gang. Ada’s story is really their story as they have all been rejected by society. Unwanted, dismissed for being “other,” unnecessary. Those who don’t belong, those who live outside of society’s standards that only apply to, and benefit, a select few - these are still people who deserve to pursue happiness.


Published: 05 Jan 2021

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Bloomsbury Publishing / Bloomsbury USA

Wow, this book was and wasn't what I expected from reading the premise. I expected a feminist western, and I got that, but I didn't expect the intense and intimate character development that is more typical of literary fiction. The characters were complex, most dealing with the same sexism, but each with their own story and their own reaction to the oppression. I stayed up until 2 in the morning finishing this book, it was enthralling and compelling. I liked the idea of the love story, but it didn't feel fully fleshed out for me and kind of fell flat overall. But as that was really a minor plot point, it didn't ruin the book for me. Overall it was an intimate look on how extreme misogyny can destroy lives, and how women continue to fight for themselves against all the odds.

"True Grit" meets "The Handmaid's Tale" in this alt-history Western that focuses on women and non-binary characters rather than the usual Man With No Name. It's 1894 and our heroine, Ada, has yet to give her husband a child. In this America, that's a HUGE no-no -- women are only on Earth to have children, after all, so barren women are seen as dangerous witches. A now radicalized Ada flees her town and joins the Hole in the Wall Gang (a real life gang that here is reimagined as an all-women/non-binary group of outlaws), intended to use the loot she earns in heists and stick-ups to study women's bodies with a midwife and thus figure out how to save other women from her fate.

North does a fantastic job upending the usual gender dynamics in the Western, yet also proves she loves the medium with thrilling shootouts and dusty action sequences. "Outlawed" is sure to delight readers who enjoy the pastiche of the Western and yet are sick and tired of the misogyny, homophobia, and racism that runs rampant in the genre.

A highly enjoyable, fast-paced alternative history. When I heard about this book I expected it to be very similar to Sarah Gailey's Upright Women Wanted. While the books have a lot in common, I found Outlawed to be a more fully fleshed-out and satisfying exploration of an alternative Old West. I enjoyed the diversity of the characters and learning about the author's real-life inspirations. My one complaint is that I would have liked a bit more character development for some of the gang members just to better understand their actions and personalities -- Elzy, Cassie, Lo, and Cassie didn't feel very distinct from one another and I wanted to know more about everyone's backstories.

Outcasts look for freedom and the right to exist in Outlawed, the latest from Anna North.

North turns the wild west into a dystopian revisionist history. Set in an America that was ravaged by the Spanish flu, pregnancy is next to godliness. So it is that barren women, or women who cannot successfully reproduce (i.e., many miscarriages), are seen as harbingers of witchcraft and doom. Hanged for the uncontrollable, biological fact that they cannot conceive, North brings home the long history of injustices and misunderstandings surrounding women, sexuality, and midwifery.

Bank robberies, gunslinging, train accosting badassery fills the pages of this reimagined western. While characters are allowed space to flourish, and wordplay brings the world to life, it seems an oversight that North does not touch on the native peoples or their cultures. Given the commentary woven into the prose on both slavery and sexual prejudice, the lack of narrative on the Native peoples is grim in retrospect. Not only for the fact that white colonialism took the lands our protagonists traverse from the indigenous tribes but also for the often-overlooked cultural values of gender acceptance in Native communities.

As glaring as this omission is, it still does not derail from the overall enjoyment of Anna North's spectacular writing and courageous storytelling. Outlawed is not weighed down by the subject matter: Ideas about feminism, American racism, and gender identity are purposefully written without preaching or trauma. It gives the heavily masculine genre an inventive and adventurous makeover fit for the silver screen.

Outlawed is a funny, poignant read. The characters have real depth and the plot moves at a quick pace. I can only hope that there is a follow up to this novel.

I went into Outlawed totally blind – what a wild ride! I have very limited experience with Westerns in general, but I found reading a speculative, feminist, LGBTQIA+ inclusive Western to be a rewarding experience.
It’s the late 1800’s in the American West, and a flu pandemic has claimed the lives of much of the population, resulting in a fixation on reproduction and fertility. As such, society condemns women who are not mothers as witches, often hanging them as a result. Ana, a young midwife and our protagonist, has been married for a year but has not gotten pregnant. She flees her home and joins an outlaw gang headed up by The Kid, a preacher-turned-criminal with a heart of gold and an undisclosed mental health condition. Ada plans to eventually link up with a well-known doctor and learn more about her own condition and help others who are struggling to start a family.

This imagining of The Kid and The Kid’s band of outlaws is unlike anything I have read before! The group is comprised of barren women alongside biracial and many LGBTQIA+ folks, all of whom have been shunned by society; the Kid looks to protect them all through a grandiose and dangerous heist plan that gives off traditional Western vibes.

I would say this book is mostly about female infertility, but I love that is so inclusive of queerness. It balances commentary on the struggle LGBTQIA+ people experience with their joy, strength and power. I think the book was well-written and thoughtfully researched, but I do have some questions about the author’s decision to intertwine so many marginalized voices into one storyline. I’m not sure if there is meant to be a bigger takeaway besides inclusivity (which is an awesome end in itself!) that I may be missing.

In terms of criticism: no spoilers, but I kind of wish the ending had taken a different turn. Some other reviewers have commented on the lack of indigenous characters in the book, which I think is worth repeating. Even still I think this was a fun, exciting book that will make you rethink what you thought you knew about the Western genre.