Book Review: OUTLAWED by Anna North

OUTLAWED by Anna North (Bloomsbury Publishing, January 2021) Hardcover, 261 pages. 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

The 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 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.  

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     I normally don't read much Western fiction, but I've been very fortunate to read quality work when I do. The last time it was Cormac McCarthy, Loren Estleman, and Joe R. Lansdale. Recently, I've read some different Westerns that exist on the fringes of the genre. First up was a "splatter western" THE MAGPIE COFFIN by Wile Young. And most recently, the "feminist western" OUTLAWED.

     This is an alternate history following what happens after a massive flu epidemic in the 1890's United States. Perhaps because so many died as a result, child-bearing becomes extremely important in American towns and this is viewed as the primary purpose/obligation of women: to reproduce. Marriage and having children is valued so highly that women who are barren and cannot become pregnant are devalued, shunned, tormented, outcast and/or deemed to be witches deserving of execution. If other women residing on the same street or town become barren the first to be identified as such is thought to have cursed the neighborhood and must be driven out or hung. 

     Main character and narrator of the fictional memoir is Ada, who marries and cannot conceive even after trying to get pregnant with a known-to-be fertile man about town. Her mother, an experienced midwife, suspects what will happen to her daughter after her husband and his family expel her. Ada is sent off to a convent before the Sheriff can arrest her. 

     The religious life at the convent doesn't suit Ada, so she leaves in search of the notorious Hole In The Wall Gang, who are reputed to accept barren women into their group. The Hole In The Wall Gang are not simply bank and train robbers as depicted in Western history and literature, but more of a commune comprised of all female members in search of a more understanding community and a better life and led by The Kid. 

     I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this novel from the new releases shelf at my local library. I was simply looking for an author that began with the letter N to help me complete a Goodreads challenge. I read the description on the dust jacket and decided to give OUTLAWED a try.

I wasn't disappointed. The story has many parallel to current situations for those who want more than just a good engaging story. Some Goodreads reviewers have quibbled over the handling of certain characters and gender depiction/sexual preference issues. I think the author was trying to write a compelling novel, first and foremost, rather than a feminist manifesto. I believe she succeeded in bringing some issues to attention but did not sacrifice the story to do so or try to force an issue. 

     In fact, one of the strong points for me was the well-detailed characterization and varying points of view among members of the gang. The ending was not as conclusive as it could have been, but it did provide enough resolution to satisfy.