Westerns are not a genre I usually enjoy due to the high incidence of hangings amidst the dust, however, this came highly recommended and I’m glad I read it. In Outlawed, Anna North presents an alternate history wherein a massive flu pandemic in the 1800s wiped out the majority of humanity, leaving the survivors to try to repopulate and pick up the pieces. As a result of the drastic fall in population, childbearing is considered every woman’s duty, and barren women are at best considered cursed or, more frequently, believed to be witches who will infect the women around them with barrenness.
The story is voiced by Ada, a young woman raised and trained by her midwife mother who understands that barrenness is a medical condition, not witchcraft, and may even be due to sterility in the man. However, this can’t save her when she doesn’t conceive after a year of marriage. Fleeing prosecution, she first goes to a convent of similar women, but realizes that her goal is to help other women and investigate the issue. This leads her further, to join a band of outlaws lead by the Kid.
While set in the 1890 in an alternate American history, the story examines issues that still resonate with women today: shame surrounding inability to conceive, violence towards women, scapegoating. As we watch our rights being eroded in the fall of Roe v Wade, the attacks on public education, and whole sale book bannings, this book sounds a warning on where our worst instincts as a country could lead as well as ways women might band together to push back, all wrapped up in a Western package complete with gunfights, horses, and campfires.