Outlawed
By: Anna North
Published Year: 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Pages: 261
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.
First Impressions
Honestly… not great. This cover didn’t appeal to me at all and neither did the summary. The only good thing I can say about it is that it’s unique and would often catch my eye. It just is like everything wrong all in one cover and I don’t find it attractive. If I hadn’t had a friend encourage me to read it I would not have one so.
What I thought
My friend Carly loved this book and we have similar taste in books, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as she did.
This story takes place in an alternative America in the 1890s. Women who are barren are declared as witches and hanged. When Ada is married for a year without falling pregnant, she is essentially run out of town and joins the Hole in the Wall Gang to become an outlaw.
This is a relatively short book and I did enjoy it. I also thought it had a lot of really good messages. It focused a lot on how religion can make people not believe in science and especially focused on how people continually try to explain the unexplainable by finding any possible reason. It also gave some interesting perspective on how humans handle those that are different be it race, sexuality, or just general life choices.
The perspective about reality in this universe was interesting and I kind of wish we had spent more time in the towns and a little less as outlaws in the wild. Ada was a good main character but I was left with so many questions. Not only about her but about so many of the choices and the other members of the gang.
The hardest part for me were the scenes where they were actually stealing and shooting and getting into general good old western mischief. I’ve never been someone who is into westerns so maybe that’s why I struggled with those scenes. I also found the ending to be a bit unsatisfactory.
While there were a lot of parts and, like I said, messages, that I liked about this book, it somehow felt significantly longer that 260 pages for me. Carly loved it, so it obviously works for others, but I think I should’ve trusted my gut when I read the summary and just passed it by. Reese always has good recommendations but this one wasn’t for me. I’d say if you read the summary and find it interesting, you’ll likely enjoy it a lot.