I was sucked in by the premise, but I feel like there’s something about the writing style that just didn’t connect with me. I appreciate the emotional components of the story, but because I couldn’t really stay engaged with the writing style a lot of its more impactful moments kind of landed softer than they otherwise might have.

Believe it or not, this is actually my first Victor LaValle, even though I've had The Ballad of Black Tom in my physical library for years. LONE WOMEN immediately pulled me in from the very first page and didn't let me go. It's quickly paced and has an overall ominous feeling with great jump scares. Adelaide, our main protagonist, has a hilarious inner voice that is well balanced with her overall conflict. Adelaide's burden is so symbolic of the burden of women of color, specifically Black women, to take care of business without asking for help or investigatin what ails us too closely because of the fear that it'll consume us. I also appreciated the variety of supplemental perspectives; they helped add a certain level of tension because we, as readers, end up knowing just a little bit more than Adelaide, yet LaValle still managed to find ways to keep us surprised.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This novel begins with the main character Adelaide leaving her home under suspicious circumstances. The reader soon finds out both of her parents have been killed but we’re not sure how it happened. As she travels from place to place she transports a very travel case with something living inside. The story develops and along the way she encounters many people including many strong women making their way on the own. There definitely is a mystery around the travel case, the fate of her parents, and why she seems to be running away from her life. This story was mildly interesting and the mystery didn’t really drive the story.

Recently I posted about books that combine historical fiction and fantasy in interesting ways. This book is a great addition to that list. Set in 1915, Adelaide Henry has just buried her parents on their farm in California, and she heads out to Montana to stake a claim for land in the only place she knows that will give land to a black woman. With her she lugs a mysterious steamer trunk that is always locked, and that she talks to, when no one is looking.

LaValle explores the history of the Montana frontier through the eyes of women who are struggling to make it on their own – or in some cases are surviving better on their own than with a man. He explores the treatment of black and Chinese Americans at the time. And behind this is horror. What’s in the trunk, and what happens if it breaks out? And how can Adelaide hope to hide a secret this big, even in the middle of nowhere?

I enjoyed LaValle’s cast of characters, Adelaide’s friends Grace, Sam, Bertie and Fiona, and the villains as well. But at the heart of this book, Adelaide is a fascinating, strong woman struggling to survive and do right by the people around her in the harshest environment possible. It’s a book about family, the one you’re born with and the one you make along the way. And finding a place in the world where you can be free.

Anyone who likes to read about the Wild West and the early 1900s, especially from the perspective of diverse characters, will enjoy this book. There’s a classic feeling to this horror story that reminded me of Frankenstein or Jekyll & Hyde – the kinds of stories that explore who are the real monsters, humans or their creations?

LaValle’s writing is fast-paced but thoughtful as well. It’s hard to put down and you’ll be sorry to see it end. This is a book that truly bridges genres and I think many people will enjoy it, whether you consider yourself a horror reader or not.

Note: I received a complimentary advanced review copy of this book from publisher Penguin Random House – One World Books and NetGalley. This book published March 28, 2023.

I adore Victor LaValle's writing and am slowly making my way through his back catalog. His writing continues to impress in Lone Women. I think what he does best is atmosphere. Our main character, Adelaide Henry, has traveled to Montana to start over on a government issued homestead. She hopes that her anonymity will help her start over and leave her sin behind her. She arrives in the fall and the book carries on into and the harsh winter month. LaValle does such a good job at making you feel cold and isolated. It really is an eerie feeling. The only thing I found lacking in this book is the consistency in the "other" or "sin" (the horror part) of this horror novel. Trying to explain without giving away a spoiler is hard, so let me just say that you are expecting, and are even told, that the horror is this one thing but it turns out to not be that by the end. The revelation made a lot of the suspense and danger from the beginning of the book feel less significant. Much like a balloon deflating. Besides that, I thought it was a very fast paced, women centric story of perseverance and self revaluation. 4/5 stars and would highly recommend.

An expert author is able to redeem the unredeemable while also showing how men and women with generous and true-loving hearts can also be unredeemable. An expert author is able to show the layers of each character life and the roles they play, and then contrast them to someone so different and find a commonality. An expert author is able to make a reader fall in love with a character with only a few tender words, without making you suspect that soon all that love will be broken. An expert author also listen to his wife and takes her advice, and Victor LaValle does all these things. This will be making a high spot in my top 10 for 2023, and I will judge anyone who refuses to give Victor LaValle's work a chance.

Ok... going into this book I'd heard amazing things so I had high expectations, and from the opening chapter I was hooked. A woman is traveling with a huge mysterious locked trunk to Montana to start over and homestead, while being literally haunted by her past. It's a great premise, the sisterhood she forms with some of the other lone women in town was amazing. Once again we see the lengths that the people in power will go to to stay in power. However the author introduced two characters that I thought were going to be key in finding out what this entity that Adelaide has been bound to her whole life was... But they were literally only a blip, and the explanation was way too vague, like to the point where it almost feels like the author didn't want to delve into or develop this mythology. Also, I'm not gonna lie the ending was just a little too happy for me, don't get me wrong a lot of brutal stuff happened right before the happy ending but it was still too happy for me.

"Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.
The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.
Crafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Lone Women blends shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, and a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen. And at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—or redeem it."

My Thoughts:
Lone Women is a medium paced story with little thrilling twists or edge of your seat action that I am accustom to. The characters are the focal point and are very well fleshed out and developed.
For those that are looking for a horror book - this one has very mild horror, I'd call it more general fiction with some supernatural elements. I found myself waiting for the horror to reveal itself and felt a little let down in the end as a result. With that said, the story is well written and perfect for readers who enjoy character driven stories without all of the twists and horror.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the gifted copy of this book.

I am so pleasantly surprised by Lone Women! This is the first book I've read by Victor LaValle but it certainly wont be my last.

Lone Women starts in 1915 with Adelaide Henry setting her and her parents' home on fire, with their bodies inside, as she flees their farm in California to Montana. Her dream is to be a lone woman homesteader, but she won't really be alone because the contents of her locked, impossibly heavy, steamer trunk is always on her mind...

I loved the historical fiction elements of this novel. The farming and homesteading, the travel that takes ages, trying to survive the elements, etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the found family theme that develops throughout the novel. And I also loved the mystery and horror aspects as well. For those that want to be forewarned; there is definitely blood and gore in this novel.

I finished this book last week and I had to let it sit with me for awhile before I could write this review.

This was so much different than I expected a Horror book to be. Probably because it is actually classified as Literary Horror. And yet, I still loved it!!

Very low on the gore-horror meter, which I actually prefer, Lone Women focuses more on the horror that comes from isolation, secret keeping, being a woman, and a woman of color, in the old Wild, Wild West.

This is a quiet book. The atmosphere speaks louder than the action for most of the book. There is a dread and curiosity that is there throughout. So many undercurrents and nuances for the reader to pick up on. Delicious!

And that ending! WOW! I wanted to stand up and clap as if I was in a movie theater. In fact, the writing was so eloquent, yet so simple to understand and process, that I could easily imagine each scene playing out in my mind. A writer that can elicit motion pictures in my brain automatically goes on my favorites list!

And speaking of the author, Victor Lavalle has been writing Horror for years and apparently has several books that are in the process of moving to TV and Movie screens. Yay!!

We definitely need many, many more #blackauthors being celebrated in the Horror genre.

I absolutely recommend Lone Women for every Horror, Thriller reader and will keep my fingers crossed that this makes it to the big screen!

And did I mention that ending!!! Holy cow!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

“Queer folk, the Henrys.”

Adelaide Henry is “profoundly lonely,” growing up without siblings, with older parents that spurned the world around them. They had their reasons. And yet, in the opening chapter, as I see Adelaide pour kerosene over both of their lifeless forms and burn them, along with their house, I wonder…were they bad enough to deserve this?

But nothing is as it seems, and this is part of the magical spell that Victor LaValle weaves into this kickass novel, Lone Women. By the time I understand the why and the who and the what, I feel an intimate connection to Adelaide, as if I may be the only one trusted with her secrets.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Random House for the review copy. This is one of the finest novels to be published in 2023, and you should get it and read it.

Adelaide flees the California farm where she’s lived all of her life, and buys a homestead in Montana. Almost everything about her life changes; from the warmth of California to the frigid winters of the Northern Rockies, from life with her parents to one lived alone, and from an all-Black community to one that is almost entirely Caucasian. She brings very little with her, only what she can carry, but she is curiously possessive of her extremely heavy trunk, and though I initially assume that she keeps something of great monetary value inside it, I soon realize that isn’t it. My early notes ask the same thing over and again: “What is in that trunk?”

From there, our story unfolds and I can’t stop turning the pages. I’ve never read a novel of any genre that’s like this one, and I’m guessing that you haven’t, either.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t read the synopsis. Go into it blind. It’s a lot more fun if you learn of the characters and events at the times the author intends.

There’s a powerful message in play, but the story is so adroitly delivered that it never feels like a polemic.

I won’t say more, because I don’t want to ruin it for you, but believe me, the next time LaValle publishes a novel, I will be first in line to read it. Highly recommended, especially to feminists.

After my best friend was raving about how interesting and unique this book was I knew I has to get my hands on it. Well folks, she was right. The setting, the storyline, the characters, wow. It’s so atmospheric and engaging. I needed to know what was in the trunk, I needed to know what happened next and I was not expecting that ending. The best part? It’s all done in less than 300 pages and in a world of long-winded storytellers, it is truly a blessing. We love concise and creative reads! Pick up Lone Women now!

Victor LaValle is a fantastic writer and I look forward to reading more books by this author. He hooked me at the start and didn't let me go through this multi-genre tale.
Adelaide Henry fled her home in 1900s California with nothing but a bag and an incredibly heavy trunk. She made her way to Montana because the federal government was allotting 320-acre parcels of land for homesteading, only requiring a "person" to live on the land for 3 years making it habitable and cultivating crops. If successful, the person would own the land forever. This seemed like a sweet deal for Adelaide, a single woman hoping to keep a huge secret and start a new life.
This story mixes historical fiction with horror and is full of twists, creepiness, and mysteries (What is in the damn trunk?). Even with this last question answered, I was too entertained to put the book aside. A solid 5 ⭐ read for me!
Thank you so much to NetGalley, and Random House Publishing Group for extending this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. This is my honest opininon.

This is the first book I've read by Victor LaValle. He has written eight others. I love his writing. Every sentence is perfect. Concise and packs a punch. Having no idea what to expect, but knowing that he is admired among other authors, I had to suspend some belief as I read. I don't read much fantasy or sci-fi and am not even sure, this book is considered in either category. It could be a metaphor for all I know. It wasn't difficult to follow the story whether parts were fantasy or not. It is superb writing.

Lone Women refers to a true historical fact that women on their own, both black and white, were allowed to have claims in Montana in the old West--end of the 19th century. There are three such women in this book. Adelaide who moves to Montana after the death of her parents, Grace and her son, Sam, and Bertie Brown, who made the best liquor for miles around. This is their story and how they banded together to brave the townsfolk who found reasons to get rid of them.

Life is not pretty in Big Sandy, Montana where these women live. Big Sandy is a growing town while others around it have had their boom days and have died out. LaValle makes you feel the hardship, the cold, the vast distances, the necessity of having a horse in order to stay alive. These women do what they have to do to survive.

I recommend this book.

This book is a wonderfully terrifying contemporary western horror. I couldn't keep away from it and read it in two sittings. This is definitely one of the best books of the year.

Victor LaValle is an unparalleled talent. With every new release comes a new turn in his voice, a new reveal of his fluid ability. His characters and their distinct voices stay with you long after a book is closed and shelved, whispering to you to release them again at your next free moment. With Lone Women, LaValle's latest fantasy-tinged tale of tragedy and triumph, we are introduced to a frontier landscape unlike anything we've seen before.

Lone Women is the story of Adelaide Henry, her mysteriously heavy trunk, and a dark family secret that haunts her from the depths even as she tries to outrun its implications. It is also the story of an unforgiving land--both literal and social--and the risks paths single women must take to forge their own successes in an environment designed to quash their independence. Adelaide may be on the run, but her hunger for a place and path of her own is palpable above all else.

As with LaValle's other works, Lone Women is tinged with blood and sacrifice, but buried inside it is a fiercely beating heart, and a connection long since misunderstood. It is an examination of monstrosity and humanity told in a way only LaValle could, with twists and turns designed to terrify as much as turn readers' eyes inward. LaValle excels at making us turn a critical eye to the social landscapes he presents in every tale--a version of our own under the veil of the fantastic--and with each novel his shifting voices seem poised to paint us critically and tenderly all at once.



I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to receive an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5-4 stars

I had mixed feelings about this book. I thought it started out really well, and I was intrigued by the secretive nature of Adelaide Henry and the steamer trunk she traveled with. I was also really interested in the idea of “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame. Women didn’t have many opportunities in the early 1900s, and to see them given this chance was pretty remarkable for the times.

Once the book took a bit of a turn to horror/magical suspense, I was still hooked on the story but it had a completely different vibe from how it started. By the end I was questioning what the heck I just read. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but I appreciated that the synopsis didn’t give anything away. If you enjoy historical fiction that goes beyond the scope of reality, then I think you will really enjoy this.

*Thank you to NetGalley and One World for providing a copy of this book to review.*

This book is a pretty slow burn of a read. The ride to the big reveal is compelling and interesting. Typically, with these slow-burn books, I am left underwhelmed by the reveal, but I did not feel that way with this book. The greatest part of this book, I think, is how complex the story becomes once you understand how the "thing in the trunk" fits into the story. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how it all fits together and am very impressed that the story did not become overly complex just to fizzle out because the author tried to overcomplicate the plot. Very good book!

I highly recommend this book. The imagery was so vivid. Great storyline depicting the power of womanhood and the african american struggle. Very well written. Victor LaValle is truly a gift.

“History is simple. The past is complicated.”

Be still my history major heart, I loved that line that gets repeated throughout the book. History is what gets written down, but the past is so much more complicated.

This novel is a horror and historical fiction mash up that focuses on women of color in 1915 Montana, and that combination worked for me. I went into this knowing there was one “thing” that made it a horror novel without knowing what that thing was so when the reveal came it wasn’t completely out of left field, which I think enhanced my reading experience.

The story focuses on Adelaide Henry, a black woman who leaves her farming village in California to break out on her own in Montana. But she can’t leave her past behind and trouble follows her to Montana. I loved reading about trying to eek out a living on the mostly inhospitable land, and the relationships that people are forced to form in order to try and survive.

Overall for me this was a good historical fiction read with some horror elements that kept things interesting and a little weird.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an egalley in exchange for an honest review