Part of the reason this doesn’t work for me is because Ada is boring. There are too many “my ma once said” and “when I was a little girl” stories for my liking. My issues arose early, particularly with the narrative voice: while it has a few fun moments (“in the year of our lord 1984, I became an outlaw” works perfectly in context), those moments are overshadowed by monotonous exposition. This book is like an under seasoned meal: it’s fine, it’s edible, it has all the right ingredients. 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. And Ada must decide whether she's willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.įeaturing 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. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. 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.

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. 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. In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.

Outlawed anna