Heresy

Melissa Lenhardt

- 3.3 • 6 Ratings

- $22.99

- $22.99

"An all-out women-driven, queer, transgender, multiracial takeover of the Old West . . . and that's exactly what Melissa Lenhardt delivers in her unapologetically badass western, Heresy." - New York Times

"Lenhardt has created a bold new story where women have taken their rightful place in the narrative of the Outlaw Western genre; where wit, wisdom and wiles could mean the difference between life and death, and where the fellowship of women bested every challenge." -- Kathleen Kent

Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour never intended to turn outlaw.

After being run off their ranch by a greedy cattleman, their family is left destitute. As women alone they have few choices: marriage, lying on their backs for money, or holding a gun. For Margaret and Hattie the choice is simple. With their small makeshift family, the gang pulls off a series of heists across the West.

Though the newspapers refuse to give the female gang credit, their exploits don't go unnoticed. Pinkertons are on their trail, a rival male gang is determined to destroy them, and secrets among the group threaten to tear them apart. Now, Margaret and Hattie must find a way to protect their family, finish one last job, and avoid the hangman's noose.

"Readers who relish an unusual narrative structure will enjoy this unique take on the traditional western." -- Booklist

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

With its classic Western trappings and fierce, all-female cast, Melissa Lenhardt’s novel is bold, unique, and utterly entertaining. In the American Old West of the 1870s, the unlikely pair of British duchess Margaret and formerly enslaved Hattie lead a gang of outlaw women on a series of wild, dangerous, and downright exciting adventures. All the timeless elements of the genre are here: robberies, rivalries, deadly shootouts, and chases on horseback. But what makes this particular tale so special are the characters and their brilliantly depicted friendships. As women—some of them Black, queer, and trans—in a cishet white man’s world, they’re true outsiders with better reasons than most to choose a life of crime. The full cast of narrators make the group feel stunningly real, catapulting us right onto the dusty Colorado roads with this unusual crew. If you’re ready for a true Western with a gritty, feminist twist, don’t pass up Heresy.

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