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Westward Women

'An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood' JOYCE CAROL OATES

Alice Martin

$49.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English
Virago Press Ltd
12 March 2026
'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

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 . . .

'A speculative feminist road trip thriller unlike any other' GINA CHUNG

'Taut and shocking' ANNA NORTH
By:  
Imprint:   Virago Press Ltd
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 240mm,  Width: 156mm,  Spine: 22mm
ISBN:   9780349019314
ISBN 10:   0349019312
Pages:   304
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Alice Martin received a BA in Creative Writing from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MA in English from NYU. Previously, she worked in book publishing at Writers House, Algonquin Books, and elsewhere. She is currently an English PhD candidate at Rutgers University, where she researches unpublished accounts of female friendships and teaches American women's writings. Her writing, which has been nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize and received Editor's Choice Awards, has appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, Appalachian Heritage, Writer's Foundry Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, and elsewhere. When Alice is not teaching or writing fiction, she is a regular contributor at Shelf Awareness.

Reviews for Westward Women: 'An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood' 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 -- Joyce Carol Oates 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 -- Gina Chung, author of SEA CHANGE and GREEN FROG 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 -- Olivia Gatwood, author of WHOEVER YOU ARE, HONEY 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 -- Rachel Eve Moulton, author of THE INSATIABLE VOLT SISTERS and TINFOIL BUTTERFLY A dazzlingly skilled novel. Clever and insidious, it gets under your skin like a virus and doesn't leave until the last page -- Dana Schwartz, New York Times bestselling author of ANATOMY: A LOVE STORY This novel. An all-American fever dream of manipulation, bodily autonomy, and what it means to be free. I'm still haunted -- Lee Clay Johnson, author of NITRO MOUNTAIN 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 -- Anise Vance, author of HUSH HARBOR 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 -- Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of WE NEED NO WINGS


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