An interesting take on pioneer life and what it took to survive. The plot had lots of twists and turns.

This book was excellent up until the mysterious box was opened. After that, I felt the plot dragged and I could not become invested in any of the characters. I hoped for so much more from this.

Victor LaValle pens a hell of a tale as usual with LONE WOMEN. I received an advanced review copy from NetGalley and am grateful for the opportunity to get a sneak peek of this one.

I don't need to read a synopsis or know anything about a new LaValle before I know I need to read it. Dude is that good. One of my must read authors for sure.

There is an escalating sense of anticipation from the very first pages of this one. Something's going on with Adelaide Henry and her mysterious steamer trunk. Something's going on indeed. Something's going to be unleashed.

I'm not typically into the horror genre, but the summary for this book called it 'inventive horror' and I was intrigued. Inventive it is! I was pulled in right from the start with just enough information to make me want to know what the heck is going on, why is Adelaide fleeing California and why are her parents dead?! There was always just enough truthful information dangled in front of me to keep the pages turning past my bedtime. I wanted answers. I wanted to know what was in the trunk! I'm happy to say Victor LaValle delivers and did not leave the readers wondering and this made me very happy. There were a few times I felt fear while reading the book, but what I really came away with made me feel good and hopeful too. The women in the book are strong, resilient, and capable, and I found the story to be a fun, creative twist on the horror and historical fiction genres that I very much enjoyed.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, One World for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This had all kinds of my buzzwords going for it - horror, historical American setting, homesteading, creepy creature. As soon as I started it I knew it was going to be something I really enjoyed.

Unfortunately time has not been on my side this week and it’s taken me 5 days to read these couple hundred pages in very short bursts. I wish I would have saved this for a weekend to devour in one day. I think that would have upped my enjoyment.

But as a whole this is a FANTASTIC story by a new to me author. The writing and vibes were great, the story was dread inducing at the beginning. Once we learn everything this did fall off a little for me. I liked the unknown but the story did end up being surprisingly sweet. This has many great elements and I foresee this being a big hit this year!

I received an eARC via NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In December, I requested a galley edition of Lone Women by Victor LaValle. I requested it based on the blurb I read and seeing a number of people who were super excited about the author releasing a new book. I am always happy to discover a new author and I was intrigued. I was approved for the galley and downloaded it, where it waited patiently in my TBR pile.

Let me say this- I knew NOTHING about Victor LaValle. By the time I opened my galley of Lone Women, I no longer remembered anything about the synopsis of the book. In other words, I went in as blind as blind could be. Judging from the cover, I thought this book would be a historical fiction book based on homesteading in Montana.

Well, I wasn't exactly WRONG but I was so far from right. You have never seen a reader as confused as I was about a third of the way into the book. It literally felt like I had fallen into topsy-turvy world!

The good of all this is that I was in for one hell of a ride, not knowing that this book had an element of horror. I had no freaking idea what was going on but you better believe it kept my attention. Several times I had to just set it down and breathe for a minute- what had I gotten myself into?!

I was completely engaged. Confused, mystified and at times over my head, but always engaged. I could not wait to see where Lone Women was going to take me next. And I won't say more, because there may be another reader out there who is as clueless as I was.

You better believe I will remember who Victor LaValle is from this point forward!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a galley edition of Lone Women in exchange for an honest review.

Adelaide Henry leaves her family farm house ablaze, with her dead parents inside. She is leaving California for Montana, with a mysterious trunk that rarely leaves her sight. I was hooked from the beginning of this book. So many questions and the answers come, as her story unfolds. A lone Black woman, looking for her place to belong. An amazing story with interesting characters kept me up late at night. And I will admit, there were a couple pages where I held my breath. It’s been a long time since a book has scared me. I loved it! My kind of book from an author I enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley, and One World/Random House for this ebook to read and review.

Adelaide Henry is a young, black woman who has left behind her family farm in California to stake her claim as a homesteader in Montana. With her travels a locked steamer trunk, its secret her heavy burden.
LaValle manages to excellently examine the weight of family secrets and the challenges of surviving as a woman and person of color in a world where both the elements of nature and the elements of society society are fighting against them. His setting is written in a way that it becomes practically a character in itself. The isolation and harshness of the Montana wilderness highlight the necessity of community for survival, even as our principal characters must struggle to create one in a society heavy with racism and misogyny.
If I were to offer any criticism, it is that there were places that the pacing felt uneven, in ways that didn't serve to highlight the story. On the whole, an excellent work. I highly recommend LaValle to any fans of atmospheric horror or a seeking a Lovecraftian feel without his racist baggage.

Historical fiction combined with horror in Lone Women was a definite hit for Victor LaValle. I was hooked from the beginning. This book combines so many different genres to create one perfectly atmospheric novel. The characters were real and tangible yet with an allure of mystery. This was one of the best novels Ive read in a long time. It was a first for me from this author but wont be my last.

Mystery, historical fiction, and monster horror all wrapped up into one story. As a fan of the Ballad of Black Tom, I was very excited to pick up Lone Women. The reader follows Adelaide, a Black woman in the early 1900s who moves to the Montana wilderness after a harrowing incident that she would rather forget. This book is character driven through Adelaide's development, and the reader finds more about the mystery and the horror as the reader goes along. The book focuses on secrets, burdens, perceptions, misconceptions, and what it means to build community. However, some side character arcs didn't feel as complete as I hoped they would be by the end. Overall, it's a great message with that constant creeping dread underneath. I definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a historical fiction mystery that has a slow horror build.

Some content notes include: kidnapping, murder, racism, sexism, animal death, bodily injury, gore, blood, transphobia, homophobia, death

A big thanks to One World at Random House for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was such an interesting take on an old western horror. The pacing of the story is slow with a pervasive eeriness that starts to haunt the reader with pops of intense anxiety. We follow Adelaide Henry, a Black woman who moves to Montana from California after an incident. I appreciated how the author was able to make the reader also feel the burdens and responsibilities that Adelaide is forced to carry with her. This book is a lot of character work. That's not to say that there isn't a plot; there is. The story is not focused on it though. The plot serves to enhance the analysis of people and society. The author is able to show a distinct, underlying problem with society, mainly that those in power will always create a community through othering those that are different from them. Overall, I liked the eeriness and the character work. There were a few things that got a little bit derailed in the plot towards the end that I didn't really like, a scene that was kind of fade to black that I wish we could have seen, and a couple of characters that were a part of the story just didn't really show up in the end and left me wondering. The epilogue was a nice touch and I liked that we were able to learn a bit more about what happened after the events of this story.

Overall I would highly recommend this story for fans of slow horror who don't mind a bit of gore.

Trigger/content warnings: racism, sexism, animal death, bodily injury, gore, blood, transphobia, homophobia, death. There could be more, but this is all I can remember right now.

LONE WOMEN is a well-written historical, fantastical novel. Once I understood how the fantastical monster was woven into the novel, I was increasingly intrigued by this story about strong female characters homesteading Montana in the American West. Everything came together in the final section of the book when the true monsters got what I believe they truly deserved. HINT: Don’t miss Victor LaValle’s brief YouTube video explaining his thoughts when writing LONE WOMEN. He is so charming and sincere. How could I not immediately purchase another of his novels?

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Lone Women.

I enjoyed the author's previous book so I was excited my request was approved for Lone Women.

I'm not a fan of Westerns, books or movies, but I like the author and the premise was mysterious and my interest was piqued.

I really love the author's writing; it flows in a comfortable, easy to read style. There's no flowery prose, no redundancy or repetition. He describes the characters and setting in blunt, straight forward prose and I can see the wild frontier, the desolate landscape, the harsh winds and unforgiving land.

My favorite aspect of the book is that it features women; marginalized women, single women, women of color, queer women, women who don't fit into the patriarchal society's beliefs of what women should look, act, and be like.

At first, I wondered where Adelaide's sister came from, why she was human and Elizabeth wasn't and then I realized I was reading the whole dragon and monster theme too literally.

The author may have intended Elizabeth's unique form to be a metaphor, someone who looks and acts different and frightens people simply because she doesn't look like everyone else.

Lone Women isn't a horror story; it's a tale about acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding.

I love the ending; lone women (and sisters) accepting each other for who they are, building their own community of acceptance and inclusivity and embracing others just like them.

This interesting story was about a tall Black woman who left her home in California to homestead in Montana in 1915. She carried with her a small bag of necessities and a heavy steamer trunk. Initially we do not know the contents of the trunk or why she carts it along with her.
This novel was full o strange and unique characters which included several lone women (women who were widowed, who wanted to homestead to have a place of their own and their independence), as well as various vigilantes, outlaws and thieves. The characters settled in a small town surrounded by flat plains, cold mountains and the wild west.
I liked the way that the lone women bonded together, and the friendships that they developed to support each other and to help them survive the struggle against the forces of nature (and man).
I did not care for Elizabeth and felt that her growth and development were not explained. Nor did the author explain why she was so attached to Adelaide.
The author brought into play themes of racism, identity, survival, and friendship. I was invited to read this book in advance of a discussion group which I missed. I don't think I would have picked up the book otherwise as Western horror stories are not my preferred genre. However, I think that the author provided a true representation of the Wild West around the turn of the last century, as well as the desolation, loneliness and the strength that settlers needed to survive.
I received an electronic ARC from tNetGalley and the publisher and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I just reviewed Lone Women by Victor LaValle. #LoneWomen #NetGalley

I really wanted to like this book, but after she burns her house down at the beginning and walks away I just couldn't get into it. Not my kind of book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom and The Changeling, so I requested this one from NetGalley as soon as I heard about it. It surpassed my expectations, and I liked it even better than the two previous LaValle books I’d read. Set in 1915, it follows Adelaide, a Black woman who has left her home after a family tragedy. She sets up in Montana as a homesteader, carrying with her a monstrously heavy steamer trunk. Contained within that trunk is something that must never, ever be released.

Contrary to what I thought going in, the title doesn’t mean that all the women featured in the story are truly alone. Some, like Adelaide’s nearest neighbor Grace, are widows with children. Others, like Bertie and Fiona, who live in the nearest town to Adelaide’s homestead, are part of lesbian couples. What makes these women “lone” in the eyes of society is that they’re unaccompanied by men. The society they live in expects that women will be supported—and led—by men, but the women in LaValle’s book don’t have and/or don’t want that option. Instead, they form a network of mutual support that grows into friendship. That portrayal of female friendship is one of the most powerful parts of the novel.

Lone Women is something of a mashup between the Western and horror genres, which I’ve sometimes seen referred to as Weird Western. As one would expect from LaValle, the horror elements are very well-done. There’s one particular scene, where Adelaide and Fiona visit a ghost town, that was beautifully creepy and unsettling. LaValle is an amazing writer, and he knocked it out of the park with this book.

This historial fiction was something I needed. This book follows a lone woman across America looking for a fresh start from her past. With only a few items to start her new future- including a giant box, she has no idea what’s in store for her.

Also… what’s in the box?

Read to find out.

So good!!

Adelaide Henry has just burnt down her home with her dead parents inside. As she hoists her cumbersome trunk onto a wagon, Adelaide looks back at her smoldering home, and thinks about the secrets that precipitated this act. Her secrets are born from shame, have kept her disengaged from her community, and has caused suffering. Her parents kept many secrets, and it had cost them their lives. The acts she has taken have made her a fugitive in her farming village of Lucerne Valley, California. However, she is now free. Secrets; shame; burdens; silence; and isolation. These are just a few of the themes that are peppered into Victor LaValle’s newest book of horror, Lone Women.

As Adelaide leaves her family farm, she yearns for the promise of a new life in Big Sandy, Montana. She has read a letter in the newspaper titled “Success of a Lone Woman” and is spurred to relocate. She will take possession of a shack and some land provided by the government, that she plans to make her own. However, she is not really a lone woman because she carries with her a burden: the entity that arrived at her house on the same day she was born.

Dualities within and between characters create the horror and tension in Lone Women. Adelaide is both a victim and a villain: she experiences hardship and pain through the actions of her parents, herself, the entity in the trunk, and the citizens of Big Sandy. However, she is also a villain in how she views and treats the entity in the trunk. She sees herself as the light/good half compared to the dark/bad half in the trunk. She keeps the entity hidden and treats it as an albatross around her neck: a heinous burden that weighs her down and keeps her from being free and successful. Another example are the brothers Joab and Delmus Mudge. They have yet to reach the age of thirteen; however, they have partaken in much adversity and violence. Delmus hangs back and is quiet while Joab embraces crime and brutality with relish. Their trajectory mirrors a pair of Old Testament brothers. Much of the book can be viewed as a retelling of one of its stories.

Victor LaValle has written another compelling book that stretches the bounds of horror. I highly recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and One World Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Victor LaValle delivers a historical creeper, which doesn't offer much in the way of surprises (if you've seen MIDNIGHT MASS, you know where the plot is going, and so many people who are going to read this book have absolutely seen MIDNIGHT MASS) but does bring some pleasures all the same. There's a lot of fun in the early going, including a gang of strangely coordinated youths and the unrelenting chill of the Montana steppes in winter, and its a terrific look at race and gender politics through the lens of a place we don't see often at a time we often hear too little about. Things lose their way a bit, when the plot rushes to a conclusion, but more time with LaValle is always appreciated and this is no exception.

Whew! This one threw me. I didn't know what to expect and the author did not disappoint.

We meet Adelaide Henry in the wild west of the early 20th century. She is in her early 30s and has already led a hard life. Adelaide flees California to Montana to begin new as a homesteader....with a locked trunk filled with secrets. True to its nature, Montana is hard as winter sets in.

Adelaide is a strong woman that I loved following in this story. She is a survivor at her core. This will not be my last LaValle read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a chance to read this amazing tale.