Outlawed

By: Anna North

Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell

Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Outlawed by Anna North, read by Cynthia Farrell.

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, gripping saga about the search for hope in the wake of death and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear.

©2021 Anna North (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Outlawed stirs up the western with a provocative blend of alt-history and feminist consciousness. The result is a thrilling tale eerily familiar but utterly transformed.... In North’s galloping prose, it’s a fantastically cinematic adventure that turns the sexual politics of the Old West inside out." (Ron Charles, Washington Post)

"Anna North presents a far different perspective on the [Western] genre, one forged by women, Black and nonbinary people looking for the freedom, space and right to exist in a world that largely doesn’t want them.... The vividness with which she writes this world is one that’s captivating and hard to put down." (USA Today Best New Books)

"Fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are in for a stellar ride where gender roles, sexuality, agency, and self-discovery come together, making North’s story as experimental and novel as it is classic." (Boston Globe)

Finished Wanting More

Love the adventure of this story. Anyone that has never quite fit in would relate to this story. I hope to hear more story of Ada, the kid and the gang.

Feminist Western

What a great story to tell the tale of the American West from the voices of women and not just any women but barren women at a time when that was not understood or tolerated. Compelling, complex characters that you love and root for leaving you appreciating the understanding we have today about our bodies and our rights and understanding that it’s a fight to keep it that way.

Wonderful!

Kept me thoroughly captivated. I hated to see this tale of adventure, love and devotion end. Wonderfully performed, beautifully written. Bravo!

Great Story

The storyline was engaging and thrilling. The performance of the story could’ve been better, not a fan of the way the individual characters were given similar voices.

Loved this book

Wonderful book about the 1800’s and women’s voice, mission and love. Great read. Inspired.

Interesting idea

I listened to this book for a book club. I found the premise to be interesting, and I enjoyed the matter-of-fact portrayal of women and gender nonconforming people making a society for themselves. I found the characters hard to relate to, though, because of the violence they perpetrated and the oddness of some of the plot points, like the use of “baby Jesus” (why not just “Jesus?”) and the contrived-feeling idea of barren women being thrown out of towns en masse. It was enjoyable for what it was, and I appreciated the themes and setting, but I didn’t like it quite as much as I was expecting.

Love it

Original and unique. Very entertaining. I didn't want it to end. The narration was good, too

Best book I’ve read/heard in years

The story, the characters, the reading, it all captivated me. I’m enthralled by this author and couldn’t stop listening to see what happened next. I would recommend this book to anyone with eyes or ears. You won’t regret it.

Bad Narration, Adequate Story

The idea was interesting enough, but the plot was just shy of being executed successfully. I never felt like the relationships between the characters were deep enough to elicit much care from the reader about what happened to anyone. The narration was also the worst I've ever heard from an audio book. The reader made very strange choices when it came to character voices. Many of the characters sported the same husky male voice, even many of the women. It took me several chapters to realize that the hole-in-the-wall gang were all FAAB for this reason. I may have enjoyed the book more if I had simply read it on my own, but I still don't think it was well-written enough to be a favorite.

Great plot! Super interesting!

Loved the book in its entirety! The characters were unique as well as the plot.