I loved the premise of this book.
It’s told from the perspectives of Aimee, Eve, and Teenie, three women heading west - one to find her infected friend, one writing a story on the outbreak, and one infected herself. For some reason I struggled to keep their narratives straight and never fully connected with either the characters or the plot. I expected this to be a homerun, but it just didn’t land for me. Interesting in concept, but the emotional connection wasn’t there.

In Christina Kovac’s stunning speculative debut, Westward Women, an unexplained disease sweeps through the female population of 1970s America. It starts with just an itch in the arms, then a fog in the brain. Not long after, women are abandoning everything and walking westward,

Alice Martin explores how women connect, protect, and sometimes lose each other under strange and unsettling circumstances. While the plot centers on a mysterious force pulling women west, the real strength of the novel lies in its portrayal of female relationships — friends, strangers, and those caught in between.

The story is quiet but tense, and the emotional bonds between characters feel raw and real. Martin captures how women support each other in moments of fear, confusion, and longing, even when the world around them doesn’t make sense.

It’s a thoughtful, moody read — less about answers and more about the ties that hold people together when everything else is falling apart.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC of Westward Women by Alice Martin

Speculative Fiction, as this book is described, is a new sub genre that I’m finding I enjoy.

Set in the 1970s, this book is about a fugue (an itch and memory loss) that causes 700,000 young women to sleepwalk west, away from their homes, lives, and families, amid the aid of a mysterious male Pied Piper. Three of these women “are caught in the infection’s riptide.” This book tells their experiences of the westward exodus.

Aimee is searching for her lost friend Ginny; Eve is a disgraced journalist hoping to gain a redemptive story from the infection; and Teenie is infected.
All are westward moving.
I felt most connected to Teenie as her chapter is first-person POV whereas Aimee’s and Eva’s are in second-person POV

This book is slow-paced despite the dramatic dystopian theme, and evokes our recent pandemic.
It mostly read as metaphor for how women’s existential angst and mysterious bodies need societal and medical control.

The writing is excellent, allegorical and rich with detail, and the characters well-developed. Still, the story is dystopian and dark, and I was not really in a mood for a depressing read.

Three stars.

I absolutely loved this book. It gave beautiful commentary on pandemics as well as how women are seen and treated in the world (especially in a medical sense). I would highly recommend this book

Westward Women is an interesting take on a global pandemic in the past. The book follows three separate stories of women traveling west by any means neccessary during a mysterious pandemic only targeting younger women.
I did enjoy the suspenseful parts, and the twisteroo at the end. The pacing was pretty slow and relaxed despite the material, but easily maintained my interest.
My only real gripe was that sometimes things would happen with little to no explanation, and you would just be expected to accept that as the new reality.
I enjoyed the characters overall and watching their paths intertwine.

So the idea of this book is really amazing! I really loved the concept of the book and think that it’s amazing for the authors debut work. I lowkey think I am in a reading slump of sorts but it was an okay read for me considering the reading slump

Westward Women is a road trip across America set in the early 1970s, during the rise of second-wave feminism. An infection is spreading, plaguing young women with an insatiable itch—a physical need to flee westward. It’s speculative fiction grounded in relatable feelings of entrapment. It’s an analogy for how women are often made to feel that wanting something beyond what they have is unnatural. Women must have a disease to desire anything other than staying put. Their lives are largely dictated by the men around them, and while it’s the women who are affected by the infection, it’s the men who try to control, contain, and restrict it.

The novel also thoughtfully explores female relationships—how women relate to themselves and to each other. Told through the perspectives of several women, we get to see how the infection manifests in different ways. One critique is that the women didn’t read as especially diverse. I also felt the journey dragged a bit in the middle, but the story ramped up as the characters neared their destinations.

Overall, I enjoyed this introspective look at the inner lives and hopes of these women, through the unique circumstances the author has created.

In a world where the policing of women’s bodies feels like it shouldn’t be the present but the past historical this book comes in great time. Well presents dystopian. The reality of women being controlled or put into a box of expectations is so very real. This feels like a mix of the wanderers, the stand, and also has as much hope.

Thank you to Net Galley and Alice Martin for an ARC copy of “Westward Women” in exchange for an honest review. This novel is a debut from Martin to be released in 2026.

This novel takes place in the early 1970’s and revolves around a storyline of an infection that only women are getting within a particular age range. What’s interesting is the symbolism behind this idea that women are getting sick and men in positions of power are the ones of course to take control of the situation and decide what is best for these women. When you think of living as a woman in America in the early 1970’s, this is completely on point with what was happening regarding women’s rights.

The author takes you on a journey of three women whose stories are intertwined with each other in a very specific way. This isn’t just a story about women getting sick, it’s a story about whether you just go along with the “fate” someone says you’ve been given or you go out fighting for something better that you know is out there waiting for you.

“Westward Women” is a unique and powerful story that you will not be able to put down!

Westward Women is a fever dream of a novel—equal parts dystopian road trip, lyrical mystery, and aching feminist allegory. Set in a surreal 1970s America haunted by mass disappearances, this story hums with unease and urgency from the first page, as women across the country succumb to a mysterious illness that compels them to walk west, leaving behind everything they’ve ever known.

What begins with a strange itch quickly unfurls into something deeper and more disturbing. Through the eyes of three women—Aimee, searching for her best friend; Teenie, gripped by the illness and fading fast; and Eve, chasing the story that could save her career—Westward Women becomes a kaleidoscopic narrative about loss, memory, and the quiet violence of being forgotten.

The specter of The Piper—a shadowy figure said to guide the afflicted West—adds a mythic layer to the book, evoking echoes of folklore, horror, and cultural critique. But this isn’t just a novel of mystery—it’s a richly emotional, character-driven journey about the women left behind, those trying to disappear, and the ones who refuse to let go.

The prose is hypnotic and unsettling, the pacing taut and immersive. And despite its eerie, almost apocalyptic tone, there’s a strong undercurrent of hope—one born of connection, resistance, and the act of bearing witness. These women may vanish, but this novel refuses to let them be erased.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A stunning look at what it means to be a woman, diving deep into how society digs into you. This is for anyone that's felt the urge to run, and those who get it will not be able to put down this book, or stop thinking about it after the last page. Definitely going to be a best of the year for me.

I'll be honest. I am not entirely sure what I just read. I enjoyed it and couldn't put it down, but the whole thing just felt strange. Maybe that was the point. The writing made me feel as if I was affected by the epidemic. It took a while to start remembering who each character was, but I quickly became invested in each of them.

I thought this book had an interesting premise and I really liked the writing style and how the different character arcs came together, but the pacing felt very slow to me and I thought that it could have been sped up. I also found the hypersexuality of every main character annoying and distracting from the story itself. Overall, this was an interesting, well written story and I mostly enjoyed it.

I tried to like it, I wanted to like it but I just could not. The virus attacks those women who want more and drives them forward to some unknown place that might be better, but always onward. It just got to creepy for me, especially the Piper and the time on the farm. Perhaps it was just too realistic, but it was overwhelmingly depressing. I skipped about 1/4 of the book and wasn’t entirely surprised by the twist at the end. The writing was good and the story creative, but just not for me. I appreciate the opportunity to read this interesting book.

This is the book of 2025, y'all!!!

Sometimes you pick up a book and immediately know you're in the hands of a writer who gets it. Westward Women is that kind of book. It gets under your skin like the mysterious infection at its center and refuses to let go.

This is Alice Martin's debut, which honestly shocked me because the writing feels so assured. Set in 1973, the novel follows a strange epidemic that affects only women, causing them to develop an irresistible urge to migrate westward toward the Pacific Ocean. But this isn't really a book about a disease. Desire and the particular hunger that lives in women who want more than what they've been given, is at its core. This novel speaks directly to anyone who's ever felt trapped by expectations, who wants something they can't even name. The way Martin captures that particular restlessness, that sense of being called toward something that might destroy you but feels more authentic than staying safe—it's incredibly powerful. And rather than explaining the infection through science or making it purely supernatural, she lets it exist in that liminal space where metaphor and reality blur. It's a disease that affects only women, that makes them want to move, that society doesn't know how to cure or contain. Sound familiar?

The multi-POV structure here is absolutely masterful. It took me a about 10% into the book to start empathizing and being invested in this cast of women, but Martin gives us four distinct voices: Aimee searching for her infected best friend, Eve the ambitious journalist chasing a story, sixteen-year-old Teenie who's infected and grieving her lost sister, and this haunting second-person narrator that speaks for the collective experience of infected women. Each voice feels completely authentic and necessary, which is rare in books that attempt this many perspectives.

What really got me was how spooky this book is without being traditional horror. If you've ever dealt with anything like chronic eczema or hives, the visceral **itch** that is the true main character can be triggering to read. All in all, it's more like reading The Guest or Our Wives Under the Sea—books that understand how to make the everyday feel strange and full of possibility. There's this atmosphere where you're never quite sure what's real and what's metaphor, and that uncertainty becomes part of the magic.

This debut should absolutely be on your TBR list. It's for readers who like their literary fiction with teeth. I can't wait to see what Alice Martin writes next. This one's going straight to my favorites shelf ✨

Definitely not what I had been expecting. Thoroughly engaging read

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

It’s the 1970s and there’s an epidemic in America. But it only affects women so no one cares, that’s it, the end.

Well, kind of.

First comes the itch, then the women become tired and their memories start to fade. They feel compelled to move westward. No one can find a cure, and while some women are sedated in hospitals, many more are just lost.

The book follows three women: Aimee has no symptoms. The recent college graduate is searching for her best friend, Ginny. She hears about a man called the Piper who is transporting women west.

Eve is a reporter who needs a big story to get back in the game. She, too, hears about the Piper and decides he’s her big break.

Teenie’s symptoms are getting worse. As she moves west she is trying to remember the last time she saw her sister, before she disappeared, years ago.

So, no surprise that the women interact in some way. I didn’t expect what happened, and I can’t say I was crazy about it either.

Westward Women by Alice Martin is a powerful and evocative historical novel that shines a light on the strength, resilience, and courage of women forging new lives on the American frontier. Martin’s vivid storytelling immerses you in the harsh realities and hopeful dreams of the era, capturing both the struggles and triumphs of her characters with heartfelt authenticity. The book beautifully balances adventure, emotion, and rich historical detail, making it a compelling tribute to the often untold stories of women who helped shape the West.

Super interesting take on pandemics - one specifically affecting women.

It took me until about the halfway point to really feel like I got the flow of the book going and connect everyone but from there it kept me hooked.

I thought it was a really good sci-fi dystopian take on our current world without being too on the nose.