Westward Women
'An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood' JOYCE CAROL OATES
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In the summer of 1973, a mysterious infection spurs women across the United States to leave their homes and migrate toward the Pacific Ocean. At a loss for what causes the infection, how it's spread, or what it may ultimately cause women to do, the public refers to the 700,000 women who go missing simply as 'the westward women'.
Three women are caught in the infection's riptide. Cautious twenty-two-year-old Aimee goes in search of her enigmatic, newly infected childhood friend, only to find herself haunted by the voices of other westward women everywhere she goes. Meanwhile, Eve, an ambitious young journalist, is determined to prove her worth by writing a story about a man she hears is collecting infected women across the country. Finally, infected sixteen-year-old Teenie, still grieving from the loss of her sister, begins traveling with a man known only as the Piper, who claims to protect girls like her...
Three women are caught in the infection's riptide. Cautious twenty-two-year-old Aimee goes in search of her enigmatic, newly infected childhood friend, only to find herself haunted by the voices of other westward women everywhere she goes. Meanwhile, Eve, an ambitious young journalist, is determined to prove her worth by writing a story about a man she hears is collecting infected women across the country. Finally, infected sixteen-year-old Teenie, still grieving from the loss of her sister, begins traveling with a man known only as the Piper, who claims to protect girls like her...
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- Published: Mar 12 2026
- 232 x 152mm
- ISBN: 9780349019321
Press Reviews
Joyce Carol Oates
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
Gina Chung, author of SEA CHANGE and GREEN FROG
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
Olivia Gatwood, author of WHOEVER YOU ARE, HONEY
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
Rachel Eve Moulton, author of THE INSATIABLE VOLT SISTERS and TINFOIL BUTTERFLY
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
Dana Schwartz, New York Times bestselling author of ANATOMY: A LOVE STORY
A dazzlingly skilled novel. Clever and insidious, it gets under your skin like a virus and doesn't leave until the last page
Lee Clay Johnson, author of NITRO MOUNTAIN
This novel. An all-American fever dream of manipulation, bodily autonomy, and what it means to be free. I'm still haunted
Anise Vance, author of HUSH HARBOR
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 lives. A remarkable debut
Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of WE NEED NO WINGS
An astonishing debut that will leave you thinking long after you close its cover. A story about misunderstood women that is so needed at this time when society seems to understand us less and less. No need to pack a bag, just head west with Alice Martin . . . I promise you'll be glad you did
Anna North, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of OUTLAWED
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
Dawn Kurtagich, award-winning author of THE MADNESS and THE THORNS
In the literary tradition of Margaret Atwood and Sylvia Plath, this brave and original novel explores female agency, choice, and liberty set against a rich and authentic 1970s backdrop. It had me frothing at the mouth. Timely, terrifying and bold, Westward Women infected me in all the best ways!
- Woman's Weekly
Haunting, nostalgic and sharply observant