Why You'll Love This
The first all-female outlaw gang in the American West — and history tried to erase them entirely.
- Great if you want: feminist revisionist Westerns with found family at the center
- The experience: propulsive and scrappy — heists, rivalries, and mounting tension throughout
- The writing: Lenhardt balances grit and warmth without romanticizing the brutality
- Skip if: you prefer historically grounded fiction over heightened genre storytelling
About This Book
In the lawless American West, survival demanded hard choices — and for Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour, the hardest choice turned out to be the most liberating one. Stripped of their land and livelihood by a ruthless cattleman, these two women build something the history books never thought to record: the only all-female outlaw gang in the West. Heresy is the story of what women do when every respectable door slams shut — and what it costs them, in blood and loyalty and love, to kick down a different one entirely.
Lenhardt writes with a sharp, propulsive confidence that keeps the pages moving without sacrificing depth or nuance. The story's strength lies not just in its action but in the tenderness of the bonds between these women — the found-family dynamics feel earned rather than sentimental. The dual-protagonist structure gives the narrative real emotional complexity, allowing two distinct voices and worldviews to push against each other in ways that illuminate both characters. It's revisionist Western history that earns its revisionism.