Heresy

WHAT WOULD WE have wanted from a feminist western five years ago, or even two years ago? A thoughtful and earnest attempt to explore the role that women actually played on the western frontier, whether as wives, mothers, doctors, bartenders, ranch hands or co-conspirators? A retelling of a classic western through the eyes of a female character: "Gunsmoke" as told by Miss Kitty, perhaps? Maybe. But we're in a different era now, post-election and smack in the middle of #MeToo. An all-out women-driven, queer, transgender, multiracial takeover of the Old West suits the prevailing winds, and that's exactly what Melissa Lenhardt delivers in her unapologetically badass western, "Heresy." Meet Margaret Parker, an unrepentant outlaw who wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet through a man's head, liftthe silver out of his saddlebag and leave a trail that leads the authorities directly to her rival's doorstep. She's a thrill-seeker fueled by revenge, lust and . . . well, not greed, exactly, but compassion. This is a feminist western, after all, and her ill-gotten gains support not only her own ranch and extended family but the entire town. In the lawless West, wealth redistribution might be its own form of heresy, but Parker doles out gold coins after every heist to keep the neighbors fed, clothed and unlikely to snitch. She's joined in her crime spree by Hattie LaCour, who, after 21 years of enslavement, disguised herself as a man to fight in the Civil War, then found herself on the run after knifing a man who raped and beat her. Parker's barn was her hiding place, and she became Hattie's closest friend and ally. A disgraced lady Pinkerton steps into the picture and adds her voice to the narrative. And about that narrative: This is a novel disguised as a true story, rescued from the dustbin of history and presented to the reader as a collection of diaries, letters, newspaper clippings and W.P.A. oral histories. We're even introduced to the fictional historian who compiled the file, and given the transcript of a podcast interview in which she talks about her research. This storytelling device can be too clever for its own good, but Lenhardt manages to pull it off, and the novel reads more or less like a straightforward third-person narrative, with the perspective shifting between the three principal characters. Still, if Lenhardt ever writes another one of these, I hope she'll dispense with the fancy tricks and just give us a good tale. Back to our story: Parker and her gang of outlaws are plotting one last score before retiring to their ranch. She hopes to live out her days doing what she loves: taming wild mustangs, bedding the local sheriff(but refusing to marry him) and offering refuge and solace to the abused and outcast women and children who turn up on her doorstep with some frequency. But her ego gets in the way. Parker can't resist settling one last score, taking one last dare and claiming some of the credit for her misdeeds - credit that always goes to a rival gang of men. No one would suspect women of holding up a stagecoach. That's Parker's advantage, but it's also her downfall: She craves the notoriety. Mayhem ensues. There will be shootouts and standoffs. There will be rotgut whiskey and weary horses. There will be cattle rustlers and scores to settle. The only difference is that women get all the action. It's about time. AMY STEWART'S most recent novel is "Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit."

The James Gang and the Dalton Gang had nothing on the Parker Gang: intelligent, careful planners, and, unlike other Old West bands of outlaws, the Parker Gang was all female. Having been robbed of her ranch by an unscrupulous neighbor, Margaret Garet Parker seeks her revenge by robbing his bank. Seeing that she has a knack for the outlaw life, Garet, along with her makeshift family of outcasts, robs stagecoaches and even more banks. After encountering the gang midrobbery, writer Grace asks to join them. Garet, facing a terminal illness, decides that Grace is the perfect person to record her story. This one impulsive decision sets the gang on a collision course with other outlaws and Pinkerton detectives. The overall plot is fast paced, despite the format: the story is told through diary entries, newspaper clippings, and WPA slave-narrative interviews, which adds some distance between the reader and characters, and the story is bookended with the viewpoint of a modern historian who discovers Garet's diary. Readers who relish an unusual narrative structure will enjoy this unique take on the traditional western.--Lynnanne Pearson Copyright 2018 Booklist