Lone Women

A Novel

by Victor LaValle

English language

Published Dec. 21, 2023 by Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-0-525-51208-0

(3 reviews)

Blue skies, empty land—and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and an “absorbing, powerful” (BuzzFeed) new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of The Changeling.

“Propulsive . . . LaValle combines chills with deep insights into our country’s divides.”—Los Angeles Times

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: The New York Times, Time, Oprah Daily, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Essence, Salon, Vulture, Reader’s Digest, The Root, LitHub, Paste, PopSugar, Chicago Review of Books, BookPage, Book Riot, Tordotcom, Crime Reads, Kirkus Reviews

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 …

“Propulsive . . . LaValle combines chills with deep insights into our country’s divides.”—Los Angeles Times

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.

1 edition

enne📚 reviewed Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Lone Women

4 stars

Lone Women is a novel set around 1915 about Adelaide Henry, a lone black woman who travels alone to Montana lugging a mysterious locked steamer trunk and her family's secrets.

I enjoyed all the spooky elements of this story, and how the steamer trunk secret is a slow burn horror reveal, starting from Adelaide's fear when anybody looks too closely at it, and continuing with disappearing folks and other horror when it opens. However, about three quarters through there's a full reveal that feels disingenuous to the reader with details that Adelaide has elided the whole time. This moment just felt a little contrived to me, and as a reader I didn't believe that she had a reason not to mention it until then. I wrote some more spoiler-filled thoughts in this comment.

Overall, I dug the frontier vibes, folks learning to trust and care for strangers (literally, people …

Lone Women is a novel set around 1915 about Adelaide Henry, a lone black woman who travels alone to Montana lugging a mysterious locked steamer trunk and her family's secrets.

Overall, I dug the frontier vibes, folks learning to trust and care for strangers (literally, people who are strange to them), the horror elements, and the focus on variously marginalized folks trying to get by and coming together in sisterhood.

Julie R reviewed Lone Women by Victor LaValle

my favorite LaValle so far

5 stars

This hit all the sweet spots for me. Compelling characters, weird monsters (human and not), and the history all tangled up together made this a page-turner.

David

rated it

Jul 27