The Outlander

“A remarkable first novel, full of verve, beautifully written, and with all the panache of a great adventure.”
—Michael Ondaatje

In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At 19, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband’s killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother’s death. Responding to little more than the primitive fight for life, the widow retreats ever deeper into the wilderness—and into the wilds of her own mind—encountering an unforgettable cast of eccentrics along the way.

With the stunning prose and captivating mood of great works like Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain or early Cormac McCarthy, Gil Adamson’s intoxicating debut novel is the brilliant and gripping tale of one woman’s desperate escape.
 

In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother's death. Responding to little more than the primitive fight for life, the widow retreats ever deeper into the wilderness—and into the wilds of her own mind—encountering an unforgettable cast of eccentrics along the way.

With the stunning prose and captivating mood of great works like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain or early Cormac McCarthy, Gil Adamson's intoxicating debut novel weds a brilliant literary style to the gripping tale of one woman's desperate escape.

“…a remarkable first novel by Gil Adamson…Adamson’s descriptions of the woods and mountains are lyrical and startling, reminiscent in their vividness of Thoreau or Twain, and her heroine is in the great American tradition of fugitive wanderers.” - Boston Globe

“A remarkable first novel, full of verve, beautifully written, and with all the panache of a great adventure.” - Michael Ondaatje

“A heady, adventurous novel. . . . A masterwork of precision-crafted prose married to an innovative chronicle of recovered sanity. It’s a deep, brilliant, and textured work.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune

“THE OUTLANDER deserves to be read twice, first for the plot and the complex characters which make this a page-turner of the highest order, and then a second time, slowly, to savor the marvel of Gil Adamson’s writing. This novel is a true wonder.” - Ann Patchett

“This remarkable novel opens at full gallop and never slows. Adamson has seamlessly merged a compelling narrative with poetic language to create a work that is full of beauty and heart and wonder.” - Ron Rash, author of SAINTS AT THE RIVER and SERENA