Westward Women

For fans of Emma Cline and Emily St. John Mandel, Westward Women is a hypnotic and hopeful debut—part fever dream, part dystopian road trip that claws its way towards a jaw-dropping finale.

 

“An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood.” – Joyce Carol Oates

 

It starts with an itch.

 

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.

 

Each on the edge of transformation. Drawn toward the unknown. In search of a way forward.

Additional information

Genre

Book Club, General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Speculative, Thriller/Suspense, Upmarket, Women's Fiction

Age

Adult

Publisher

Macmillan

Imprint

St. Martin's Press

Language(s)

English

Format(s)

Hardcover

Author

Alice Martin

Release Date

10 March 2026

Release Month

March Releases

Content Rep

LGBTQIA+

About the Author

Alice Martin is an Assistant Professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University. She received her PhD in American Literature from Rutgers University. Her writing has appeared in the Carolina Quarterly, Appalachian Heritage, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Westward Women, published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2026, is her debut novel. She lives just outside of Asheville with her husband, her son, and her attention-seeking cat.

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