Outlaw Girls by Emily Gale, Nova Weetman
Kate and Ruby live in the High Country in Victoria. They’re both daring, quick-thinking and prepared to break the rules, and they’re both brilliant horse riders—they’d probably be great friends. But they live in different times, more than 140 years apart.
While galloping through the mountains, Kate rides headlong into a thrilling experience that transports her from 1878 to the future, where she meets Ruby. Kate and Ruby return to 1878, where Kate is secretly taking supplies to her brother Ned and the rest of the Kelly Gang, who are in hiding from the police. Together the girls work to confuse the police and keep the gang from being found and arrested. But the looming disaster makes things less clear-cut for Ruby.
They’re about the have the ride of their lives!
Outlaw Girls is an exciting, fast-paced time-slip novel, narrated by both Ruby and Kate, about family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, the complexity of right and wrong, and working out what matters most.
Published 27 February 2024| Publisher: Text Publishing | RRP: AUD$16.99
Buy it at: Dymocks | Booktopia | A&R | Abbey’s | QBD
My Blurb (4 / 5 stars)
I love time travel. I love reading a modern character transplanted into the distant past. And this idea of time travelling horses and encounters with the infamous Kelly family sound absolutely fascinating! I have to admit that I don’t thin my 9-yo boy found it that fascinating. We read about 50 pages together and he had so many questions. He is a rather advanced reader for his age but there were just concepts in this book, he was unfamiliar with and it was a bit much for him.
While I found myself mostly disliking these 2 girl protagonists, I do admire their grit! It’s just that these girls are so far from my own personality and would probably be those I’d stay away from at school because I’d just be too intimidated by them. Their loyalty and love for family (Kate) and friends (Ruby) are admirable though misplaced in case of Ruby. I just found her so frustrating though she did finally grow up at the very very end. I feel that reading this as a mother of a teenager fully coloured my perspective and I may not find these characters are frustrating otherwise. I have to admire her persistence though or is that stubbornness?!
Overall, Outlaw Girls is a fun but thought-provoking read. On the surface, it was a great adventure being had by the girls. Reading between the lines, I’d suggest to not be afraid to ask all the hard questions to get into the heart of things in your discussions.
My thanks to Text Publishing gifting me a copy of this book in exchange of my honest thoughts
About the authors
Emily Gale’s much-loved books include The Goodbye Year, The Other Side of Summer and its companion novel I Am Out with Lanterns, the Eliza Boom Diaries series, Steal My Sunshine and Girl, Aloud, as well as her middle-grade collaborations with friend and fellow author Nova Weetman, Elsewhere Girls and Outlaw Girls.
Nova Weetman is an acclaimed writer of many books for young adults and children. Her middle-grade novels include The Secrets We Keep, The Secrets We Share, Sick Bay, The Edge of Thirteen and The Jammer, as well as Elsewhere Girls and Outlaw Girls with Emily Gale.
Tien's Blurb 