The Outlander
by Gil Adamson
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No country for young widows
Review by Kristy Kiernan
In 1903, the wilds of Montana and Alberta, Canada, and the frozen peaks of the Rockies challenged the most adventurous and experienced explorers. Only someone desperate, perhaps even mad, would dare consider them a viable escape route, but then Mary Boulton, most often referred to in Gil Adamson's suspenseful debut, The Outlander, as "the widow," is surely both.
After the death of her infant, ...more
No country for young widows
Review by Kristy Kiernan
In 1903, the wilds of Montana and Alberta, Canada, and the frozen peaks of the Rockies challenged the most adventurous and experienced explorers. Only someone desperate, perhaps even mad, would dare consider them a viable escape route, but then Mary Boulton, most often referred to in Gil Adamson's suspenseful debut, The Outlander, as "the widow," is surely both.
After the death of her infant, ...more
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Read in June, 2008
A young woman of privileged but emotionally bereft upbringing is married off to a man who does not love her and takes her off into the Canadian Frontier. She becomes pregnant and her baby dies a few days after birth. After this a series of events occurs that ends with her shooting her husband and going on the run to hide from her brothers in law who are intent on hunting her down. She attaches to various people in her journeys that are variably kind and cruel (sometimes both) to her and she nar...more
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Read in June, 2008
In 1903, a newly widowed young woman of 19 is escaping the consequences of both the murder of her husband and the events surrounding it. Her brothers-in-law are intent on catching her to make her face justice. This sets the scene for a brutal journey through the cold western wilderness of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. The widow (as she is generally referred to throughout the novel) carries with her the demons of her past and some of her recollections are not entirely reliable. T...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is a pretty interesting look at life during 1903 in the frontier of Canada. The story is at times gritty and poetic as it follows the escape of a woman (Mary Boulton) who has killed her husband.
The story took a while to actually interest me, as it leaked small bits of information about the widow's story and reasons for killing her husband. At first, you have no real clue why she did it or really anything other than she's running away and her twin brothers-in-law are chasing her. It was ...more
The story took a while to actually interest me, as it leaked small bits of information about the widow's story and reasons for killing her husband. At first, you have no real clue why she did it or really anything other than she's running away and her twin brothers-in-law are chasing her. It was ...more
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Read in May, 2008
The widow, Mary Boulton, is on the run. After finally having too much of her husband's shenanigans and rough treatment, she's killed him and now has to escape his brothers who are trying to hunt her down. Set in the Canadian wilderness in 1903, The Outlander follows the widow's path through an elderly woman's care, the mountains, her encounter with a lone mountain man, and a small mining town as she attempts to shake her past.
Adamson's detailed prose propels the narrative forward as...more
Adamson's detailed prose propels the narrative forward as...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Tam by:
Powell's Booksrecommends it for: anyone
The Powell's website predicts that this first novel from Canadian poet Gil Adamson will win at least one award, but I predict even more than that. The story felt like it was pushing at me for the first several chapters as I felt hunted like the main character, pulling me for several in the middle when my interest flagged just a bit, and then suddenly carrying me along cradled in the arms of a beautiful story until I ran out of pages to turn. I finished it and missed it immediately, yet felt sat...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Adults
When I started this book, I was sure that I would not finish it. Several times, I told myself that I didn't really care how it worked out. At some point, I changed my mind. I think I was nervous at first, because it was another book about a woman with a mental illness. This book was nothing like the other one (Almost Moon) that I read, except that this woman also killed a family member (her husband). You can tell that the author is a poet, and occasionally this gets in the way of the story....more
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Read in September, 2007
If you want the CanLit landscape-as-character, here it is in spades. But the premise and the setting is what grabbed me. Set in the early 1900's, a young woman kills her husband and flees into the wilderness of the Canadian rockies. As soon as she ended up in Frank, AB, I knew what was going to happen. Anyone in historical fiction who goes to Frank is there in either 1903 or 1907, when the mountain falls. It was a very remote book, the characters at arm's length from the reader, but well worth i...more
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A suspenseful plot drives this story of a widow on the run through the mountains for Canada from her vengeful brothers-in-law. Even in the sections where she is no longer running, there is a sense of anxiety because the reader knows her brothers are still out there searching for her. I liked this book because the plot moved swiftly but it didn't sacrifice character development. It has one brief but very PG-13 section. It is handled with tenderness but may be too much for sensitive readers. Ot...more
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Not every book that has people spending time in the mountains is on the same literary level as Cold Mountain. Despite the book jacket's comments, however, Adamson gives us an interesting adventure story, possibly better compared to Enger's Peace Like A River. I did not feel close to the characters in this story as I did to Frazier's, but the story is tight, the landscape is its own character, and I enjoyed the last line!
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Read in May, 2008
In 1903 19-year-old Mary Boulton kills her abusive husband and flees into the wilderness of the Canadian frontier. One step behind are her two vicious brothers-in-law. They are determined to avenge their brother and bring her back to justice.
Mary is ill-prepared for the journey but she learns to survive thanks to the kindness of a few very interesting characters that she meets along the way.
Mary is ill-prepared for the journey but she learns to survive thanks to the kindness of a few very interesting characters that she meets along the way.
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Read in May, 2008
This lyrical novel is a wonderful prose poem by Gil Adamson. Prepare yourself for a cadre of characters that somehow ring true regardless of their idiosyncrasies. Ms. Adamson's imagination and frontier knowledge blend rhythmically resulting in a consuming read set in the Canadian wilderness.
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Mom by:
I read a review in my book of the month club.recommends it for: anyone
Miss Adamson's first novel is not only an ambitious endeavor, it works in every aspect. It kept me rivited to the story from beginning to end. In fact I found myself gulping sections of it so fast that I'm afraid I missed out on her beautiful descriptive writing. I'm going back to re-read and savor it, immediately. I've re-read books but not at back to back readings.
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
badasses
The jacket makes references to Cold Mountain and the writings of Cormac McCarthy, and that's a pretty fair assessment of what you are getting into: A desperate escape, a relentless hunt, wilderness, death, unlikely companions, memories and stories within stories. I can already see the movie forming in my head, and that might even be a good thing.
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Read in November, 2007
Adamson is also a poet --- and it shows in her descriptions of life on the fringes in turn-of-the-century rural Canada. Over the course of the novel, the main character, an unconventional woman named Mary, undergoes major physical and emotional changes, an old-fashioned writerly feat not always apparent in (or relevant to) contemporary work.
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recommends it for:
Lara and Amy
Set in 1803 in Canada, this book grabbed me right from the beginning. A young woman on the run, through the wilderness, pursued by two crazy brothers-in-law, meeting wildly interesting people on the way. I found it to be a very authentic account, and beautifully written with wonderful character descriptions.
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Read in May, 2007
A debut novel by a young Canadian writer. A western adventure story with a 19 year old girl being chased by bad guys and vicitous dogs through the forests and hills and mountains. She supposingly had killed her husband and her 2 brothers in law are hellbent to killl her. A picaresque tale of first order !
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a riveting, suspenseful book set in the turn-of-the-century Northern Territories. My one bit of advice- don't read it to close to bedtime or you'll spend your dreams running from a pair of terrifying brothers out to kill you.
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Read in May, 2008
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Not bad, not bad. Some excellent and vivid descriptions of nature. Lots of horse stuff. Too little humor and too much sentimentality for my taste, but a pretty satisfying read.
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