In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother's death. Responding to little more than the primitive fight for life, the widow retreats ever deeper into the wilderness—and into the wilds of her own mind—encountering an unforgettable cast of eccentrics along the way.
With the stunning prose and captivating mood of great works like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain or early Cormac McCarthy, Gil Adamson's intoxicating debut novel weds a brilliant literary style to the gripping tale of one woman's desperate escape.
Mary Boulton's intense psychological transformation is augmented by Adamson's crystalline prose. Nothing is too minuscule for Adamson's notice: the mud at the bottom edge of Mary's hem, the glint in the brothers-in-laws' animal-like eyes, the color of the sky, the smell of the trees. Each sentence and paragraph is worth the contemplation of any great poem. The pacing is deliberate and perfect. Adamson's dark, yet delicate descriptions take this story from mere western escape story to a gothic fairytale. Mary's deepening madness, complete with hallucinated ghosts, plus the spare elements of romance, add to this perception. (Reviewed by Sarah Sacha Dollacker).
Entertainment Weekly - Missy Schwartz
A riveting tale of a woman's thirst for freedom. A-.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Lean prose, full-bodied characterization, memorable settings and scenes of hardship all lift this book above the pack.
Library Journal
Authentic historical details, a strong female character running for her life, and a murder-driven plot will appeal to fiction readers in all public libraries. Highly recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
A lovingly crafted novel.
Quill & Quire
There are plenty of improbabilities in The Outlander, and yet it’s a great read. Adamson is an impressive stylist who knows how to keep an unlikely story moving at a swift and graceful pace.
The Toronto Star - Philip Marchand
Hearty breakfasts or not, normal lovemaking or not, the novel remains Gothic in tone, with many of the limitations of that genre, including starkly drawn characterization. We must not expect multi-faceted personalities in trolls and goblins. Because of its strong narrative line, however, and Adamson's (for the most part) true poet's eye for metaphors and details that work, The Outlanders is a superior example of the genre.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Dr Neil ‘good ‘ doesn't do it justice I have read many books on a variety of subjects. This over~70 retired psychologist has found this read to be a rich and satisfying feast. A richness and depth in this novel from such a youthful looking writer. I await Gil Adamsons next masterpiece... Read More
Rated of 5
by Sue Satisfying I've always been intrigued by stories of women who pick up and run away from their everyday lives, often bringing nothing with them from their old lives but the clothes they are wearing. Anne Tyler's "Ladder of Years" is a favorite.... Read More
The Frank Slide
Most of The Outlander is fictional, but the slide at Frank, which
catastrophically plagues the closing third of the story, is based on the factual
landslide at Frank, Alberta in 1903.
Frank, Alberta was a small Canadian mining outpost that was inaugurated as a
town in 1901. On April 29, 1903, 74 million tons of limestone
slid from the top
of Turtle Mountain and blanketed nearly three-square kilometers of the
valley floor. The slide removed the entire top of Turtle Mountain, dammed the
Crowsnest River, which formed a lake, blocked the Canadian Pacific Railway,
buried seven houses and other buildings near Frank, obliterated the majority of
the mine's exterior infrastructure, and killed 70 people. Although some believed
that an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands and the town's subterranean mining
operation was to blame for the slide, it was later determined that Turtle
Mountain's unstable geological structure and the weather were the real culprits.
The first volume in the Border Trilogy - the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.
A magnificent love story, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded Confederate soldier, Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his pre-war sweetheart.
These are 2 of the 6 readalike suggestions for The Outlander. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.
The first biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture.
BookExpo America will broadcast live author appearances for the first time(May 24 2012) For the first time, BookExpo America is making author appearances at the show available for viewing online live or on demand, via Livestream. It is...
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