Outlawed is an amazing speculative Western that really shakes up the Western genre by tackling the patriarchy, gender roles/identity, race, religion, fertility, and medicine in a unique way. The protagonist is irresistible: a no-nonsense, determined heroine, who has the gumption to teach herself medicine from old textbooks. I became so involved in the book I read it in one evening.
Set in an alternate America in the nineteenth century, a massive Flu pandemic has wiped out much of the population, leading to a return to a near-Dark-Ages mentality with a strict patriarchy and witch hunts. With the urgent need to replace the population, fertility becomes a major issue in women’s lives as does keeping children alive. Miscarriages, stillbirths, and the deaths of infants are considered to be caused by witches. Women with fertility issues are cast out, and witches become victims of horrible violence.
Newly-wed seventeen year old Ada loves her husband, and she loves being her mother’s midwifery apprentice. A year later, Ada remains childless. After she’s denounced as a witch, she’s sent to a convent, where the mother superior determines that Ada is not nun material. She leaves the convent hoping to reach Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to study with a midwife there.
Instead, en route to Pagosa Springs, she joins the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws. The gang seems to be a rough, hard-scrapple group of nonbinary women with none bound by the gender they were assigned at birth. They masquerade as men to rob ranchers and, eventually, a bank. The Gang is led by a preacher-turned-robber known as the Kid, an asexual name. Charismatic (and probably bipolar), the Kid wants to create a safe haven for outcast women, but the Kid’s plans soon become grandiose and threaten the safety of the Gang.
What is most refreshing about Outlawed, is the refreshing amount of LGBTQ+ representation.
********************
Outlawed is available through:
********************
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases.
