Whoa!nus ft. Shelf Love: Western Civ I - "Lady of the West" by Linda Howard

Whoa!mance: Romance, Feminism, and Ourselves

Why, it's Andrea Martucci of Shelf Love stopping by the Whoa!mance desk to talk about darling of her childhood, weird uncle of her adulthood - A LADY OF THE WEST by LINDA HOWARD. Victoria leaves Reconstruction behind for The American West, and, its representative, The Major (with her kid sister and cool cousin in tow). The Major got his ranch the old fashioned way. By murdering his boss's enitre family - or so he thinks - and loosing a testicle in the process. His employee, Jake, also wants to get the ranch the old fashioned way - but with a side of revenge. And Victoria. Mostly Victoria. He also doesn't want to lose a testicle. How can we wrestle with a book we enjoy that has harmful ideology? How can we trace the contours of conscientiousness if characters in romance don't share the text's awareness? Is Scarlett O'Hara the white woman's Patrick Bateman? Andrea, Morgan and Isabeau have some big saddlebags to unpack with this one. Which is why it is a two-parter.