Westward Women ('an Audacious First Novel To Set Beside Margaret Atwood' Joyce Carol Oates)

By (author) Martin Alice
Short description/annotation:
The Girls meets Station Eleven in this eerie, hypnotic literary debut which unflinchingly explores women''s rage, desire and agency in a world bent on controlling their bodies.
Description:

''An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood''s provocative first novel The Edible Woman'' JOYCE CAROL OATES

''Intimate, nostalgic, and downright terrifying'' OLIVIA GATWOOD

''An all-American fever dream'' LEE CLAY JOHNSON
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It starts with an itch.

In 1970s America, in homes across the country, women ages eighteen to thirty-five begin to slow down.

Tired. Blank. Restless.

Drawn to the Pacific Ocean like it''s calling them home, they abandon their lives -- jobs, families, their very selves. And once they reach the West, they vanish forever.

At the center of the story are three young women caught in the pull of something unstoppable.

Aimee follows the trail of her missing best friend to a man called the Piper -- known for leading infected women West.

Teenie, afflicted and unraveling, clings to a single memory as she looks out the window of the Piper''s van.

And Eve, a former journalist, is chasing the story that might just consume her . . .
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''A speculative feminist road trip thriller unlike any other'' GINA CHUNG

''Taut and shocking'' ANNA NORTH

Review quote:
Westward Women has an air of prophecy enhanced by its close attentiveness to the intimate lives of girls and women. An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood''s provocative first novel The Edible Woman
Review quote:
Westward Women is a speculative feminist road trip thriller unlike any other. An incredible ride from start to finish, this is a novel you''ll want to both savour and burn through. A chilling, unforgettable, and ultimately hopeful story that will get under your skin and stay there
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This taut and shocking debut is part Western, part zombie thriller, and all cautionary tale about what happens when women''s bodies and desires are marginalized for too long. With twists you won''t see coming, Martin weaves an alternate history that''s only too relevant today
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A dazzlingly skilled novel. Clever and insidious, it gets under your skin like a virus and doesn''t leave until the last page
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Exceptionally written and all-consuming, this is an intimate, nostalgic, and downright terrifying fable about women''s instincts as a means for survival. Westward Women had me at every turn, and stayed with me long after I''d put it down
Review quote:
Westward Women is a wholly original look at what it means to be female, itching with fear and promise and the desire to find your true self in the face of constant interference. Alice Martin writes with eloquence . . . the question of who will understand and protect, turn away, or take advantage is explored in an epic road trip novel that is impossible to put down
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This novel. An all-American fever dream of manipulation, bodily autonomy, and what it means to be free. I''m still haunted
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This is speculative fiction in its truest form: no easy outs, no cheap gimmicks. In Westward Women, an altered world unearths the mess of love and hurt and power that defines our real and everyday l