New Books Network Alice Martin, "Westward Women" (St. Martins Press, 2026)
Mar 20, 2026
Alice Martin, Assistant Professor of English and debut novelist, discusses her novel Westward Women. She reads the prologue and explains the recurring 'itch' motif. She talks about using second-person interstitials, shaping plot through revision, why the 1970s setting matters, and reimagining the Western with three narrators and the enigmatic figure called the Piper.
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Westward Myth Turned Into Collective Restlessness
- Westward Women reframes the American westward myth as a collective restlessness among young women in the 1970s rather than individual conquest.
- The novel uses an infectious "itch" to literalize social desire to leave constrained domestic roles and head west.
Start With Interstitial Voices To Shape Plot
- Use interstitial voices early to create a sense of collective movement that can later guide plot.
- Martin wrote second-person interstitials first to build a chorus of women, then let them inform external action during revisions.
Book Seeded By Mother’s 1970s Postcards
- Alice Martin based the novel's 1970s setting on her mother's postcards, letters, and journals recounting a wild westward trip.
- Her mother's notes described hitchhiking, working orchards, and feeling she was missing a social movement of peers heading west.
