Bog Queen - 1

Praise for Outlawed

New York Times Bestseller * Reese’s Book Club Pick

“ Outlawed stirs up the Western with a provocative blend of alt-history and feminist consciousness . . . In North’s galloping prose, it’s a fantastically cinematic adventure that turns the sexual politics of the Old West inside out.” — Ron Charles, The Washington Post (Best of the Year)

“North presents a far different perspective on the [Western] genre, one forged by women [and] Black and nonbinary people looking for the freedom, space, and right to exist in a world that largely doesn’t want them . . . 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.” — The Boston Globe

“The heroes of the traditional Western were always sure about what made them the way they were; what made a man a man. For Ada and the other ‘outlaws’ of this spirited novel, the frontiers of gender and sexuality beckon to be explored.” — Maureen Corrigan, NPR

“A thoroughly gripping, genre-subverting and [genre]-defining marvel of a novel.” — Refinery29 (Most Anticipated Books of the Year)

“Think Foxfire by way of Mattie from True Grit , yet North’s swashbuckling saga is wholly her own.” — Oprah Daily (Best LGBTQ Books of the Year)

“The characters’ struggles for gender nonconformity and LGBTQ rights are tenderly and beautifully conveyed. This feminist Western parable is impossible to put down.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“It’s an absolute romp and contains basically everything I want in a book: witchy nuns, heists, a marriage of convenience, and a midwife trying to build a bomb out of horse dung.” — Vox

“North’s Outlawed sets a high bar . . . It upends the tropes of the traditionally macho and heteronormative genre while also being a ripsnortin’ good read, too.” — The Week (Most Anticipated Books of the Year)

“A Western unlike any other, Outlawed features queer cowgirls, gender nonconforming robbers, and a band of feminists that fight against the grain for autonomy, agency, and the power to define their own worth.” — Ms .

“Earns its place in the growing canon of fiction that subverts the Western . . . A genre- (and gender-) bending take on the classic Western.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A lovely slow draw in the world of the Old West, a story about the people who don’t belong, portraying a realistic, close-minded world that only accepts women willing to fit into a specific mold . . . It’s exciting to read a Western tale that features such a range of women and queer characters.” — Booklist

“This book has me, and you should have this book.” — Glamour (Best of the Month)

“Start Outlawed and just try to put it down.” — Sidney Herald

“A gender-bending, genre-hopping yarn that’s part frontier novel, part Handmaid’s Tale . . . North easily subverts expectations as her characters struggle to find their identities in a patriarchal world.” — BookPage

“Anna North has written a captivating Western unlike any other, with unique rhythms, dusty lands, and characters like new friends brought in on high winds. A grand, unforgettable tale.” — Esm é Weijun Wang, author of The Collected Schizophrenias

“I’m dazzled by this feminist Western about a world in which women’s worth and right to live are determined by the vagaries of fertility. Set in an alternate past, one all too similar to our today, Outlawed is terrifying, wise, tender, and thrilling. A masterpiece.” — R. O. Kwon, bestselling author of The Incendiaries and Exhibit

“ Outlawed flips the script on the beloved Western genre and gives us the iconic heroine-on-the-run we deserve. Anna North is a riveting storyteller . . . Reader, you are in for a real treat.” — Jenny Zhang, author of Sour Heart

“A moving and invigorating complication of the Western, highlighting chosen family, love, and survival among outcasts in another American timeline. As she mines the genre for vital new stories, North beautifully shines a light on our real past and conveys a warning for the future.” — Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State and Mobility

“Fans of Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy finally get the Western they deserve in Outlawed , but Anna North doesn’t just reimagine a damsel in distress as her own savior. She plays with the promise and danger of the frontier, introducing us to an America we never knew—and one we know all too well.” — Alexis Coe, New York Times bestselling author of You Never Forget Your First and Alice + Freda Forever